The urgent need for high-potentials

- There are some evident truths. Business don't compete. Leaders do. Companies don't die. Leaders let them die. It is the leaders, it is the high-potential leaders, it is the individuals who create the future, who create new values. So here, every company, every leader, every chief human resources person need to get to the point that their greatest asset is the high-potential leaders. These are the people, many of them graduate early. They have a potential. Many of them end up in the past going through the silos, going through 6, 10, 12 layers of the corporation that, initially, are given the dirty jobs. They shouldn't be developing their potential on that basis. So here, there's an urgent need because the competition today is not for finance. Competition today is not for money. Competition today is for talent. And if you have the right talent in the right places, and they are allowed to grow, and they are given the freedom to exercise their judgment, their talent, like in sports, you have a better chance of success. At the end of the day, your talent pool properly deployed against competition is the winners. It's not how much money you raised. I'd like you to know three points. Point number one. In most companies, 2% of the talent has 98% of the impact. It's a concept. It may not be exactly 2%. These people are not necessarily at the top. They could be at the lower levels, they could be cross-functional. These people create a measure of value. All of you heard in Apple, Jony Ives is one of those 2%, working with Steve Jobs, created fantastic designs. Find those people. Nurture those people. Put them in the right places, those people. Give them the autonomy to experiment, innovate, and test where they can go. They'll do something they never thought they could. Point number two. High-potential leaders are different from high-potential individuals. The high-potential leader's a magnet for other talent. They stretch other talent. They get people to work with them voluntarily to do what is needed. They expand the potential of others. So leaders are different from the individuals. Number three. Each high-potential leader is unique. Do not put them through cookie cutter. Find a way where their bent is. Find what they like to do. Find their flexibility to do what is needed to be done. This is a requirement of the chief human resource people, underlying people. Identify these people early. These millennials are able to gather information instantly and create a bigger picture than the previous people who came through silos. Identify these early. These people want feedback as you go so that they continue to improve. Do not forget, in sports, people don't get feedback once a year. Feedback is given as you progress. Leadership is a practicing art. Practicing arts requires feedback, nurturing, and showing the path.