Originally published May. 2, 2014 on Forbes.
If talent is everything, that leads to an obvious question: how do you attract the best talent?
You could offer to pay them what they are worth - or a bit more - but most companies do not have unlimited funds to pour into compensation.
A far better strategy is to allow people to actually use their talent.
Here's what happens far too often in business. A management team decides that a job candidate has "incredible talent". They need to hire him or her. But, once recruited, that person does not receive the freedom to fully use their talent. Instead, they are forced to fit into an existing system, an existing way of doing business, or an existing political situation.
Lest you think I'm talking only about recruiting a CEO for a leading public company, I'm talking about the challenge that all organizations face: small retail stores, aggressive VC-funded startups, well-established manufacturing firms, and even sports teams.
In professional sports, for example, owners often hire talented managers only to limit his powers. For ego or other reasons, the owner limits the manager's ability to pick his team or to decide who plays. This is why great managers often have mediocre results: they never get to fully use the talents that got them the job.
Money is a powerful incentive, yes, but success and meaning are even more powerful. If you give a talented person the opportunity and resources to do what they were born to do, they will do everything in their power to join your organization. The more freedom you give them, the more attractive your offer.
Here's the biggest challenge of all: you can't offer them the same job they already have.
If you want to steal a great salesperson, you won't be able to attract them by offering them a comparable sales job. The same goes for managers, programmers, designers and finance professionals.
Instead, you have to know that person well enough to understand what they really, truly want to do. Instead of knowing what they've done, you have to unearth what they aspire to do.
Like most smart moves, this one requires work and persistence. It's harder to understand a person's potential than their past, but human potential is the greatest treasure of all. Become an organization that understands and nurtures human potential.
Some years back, I was fortunate to be one of the original partners at a consulting and training firm called Peppers and Rogers Group. We grew from ten to 150 employees in three years. During this period, we hired a lot of people and gave them the opportunity to do what they were born to do. I hired a trainer and vastly expanded her role. I hired managers and gave them the opportunity to become paid speakers to leading executives. We took consultants who had been working with middle managers, and gave them access to CEOs and the founders of dynamic startups.
Not every hire worked out. But the ones that did, worked out in a spectacular fashion.
Most of us have the ability to do far more than we imagine, and certainly far more than our existing "boss" imagines. If you want to attract incredible talent, believe in people more than their current supervisor does. Have the imagination to recognize other people's potential. Bring out the very best in others.
I am Bruce Kasanoff, an executive coach who can help you get what you want. Book a one-hour call with me and I’ll prove it.