Publications

February 2025
Teaching Note

UST's Adoption of Open Talent

By: Christopher Stanton and Shira Aronson

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 824-117. View Details

August 31, 2017
Article

CEOs Should Get Personally Involved in Talent Development

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Jay Galeota and Michael Wong

Estimates indicate that, globally, human capital has a value about 2.3 times that of physical capital. This difference is likely to widen in increasingly service-driven economies. Yet, most companies maintain their equipment better than their people. The issue is not... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Employees; Training

March 2025
Article

Global Talent and Economic Success

By: William R. Kerr

Access to top performers sets an upper bound on a country’s aspirations. View Details

Keywords: Immigration; Talent and Talent Management

24 May 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Digital Labor Markets and Global Talent Flows

Keywords: by John Horton, William R. Kerr, and Christopher Stanton

13 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

Breaking Through the Self-Doubt That Keeps Talented Women from Leading

There it is, gleaming at the top of your LinkedIn feed: your dream job, a high-level, well-paying position in your field. Are you qualified enough? Should you apply? New research shows that women might be less likely to take that chance than men. View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

2023
Working Paper

Polarizing Corporations: Does Talent Flow to "Good" Firms?

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Tim McQuade, Gabriel Ramos, Thomas Rauter and Olivia Xiong

We conduct a field experiment in partnership with the largest job platform in Brazil to study how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices of firms affect talent allocation. We find both an average job-seeker’s preference for ESG and a large degree of... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Job Search; Talent and Talent Management; Wages; Attitudes

04 May 2021
Cold Call Podcast

Reversing Brain Drain: Moving Talent to Middle America

Keywords: Re: Prithwiraj Choudhury

Research Summary

Leadership, Innovation, and Talent Management

By: Linda A. Hill

Hill is working on various research projects. The first, Leadership as Collective Genius, explores the relationships among leadership, creativity and diversity, more specifically the kind of collaborative work necessary for innovation in today's global enterprise. The... View Details

May 2001
Supplement

Microsoft: Competing on Talent (B)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Glinska

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

March 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline

By: Christopher Stanton, Lynda M. Applegate, Allison Ciechanover, Emily Grandjean and Sophie Beck

In 2022, senior executives of Cambridge, MA-based Akamai Technologies met to consider whether and how to scale a successful technical training program. The program, Akamai Technical Academy (ATA), was launched in 2016 to address a key challenge at Akamai and in the... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Diversity; Talent and Talent Management; Technology Industry; United States; Boston

January 2022 (Revised October 2023)
Case

OneTen: One Million Careers for Black Talent (A)

By: Boris Groysberg, V. Kasturi Rangan, Annelena Lobb and Kerry Herman

The OneTen case study examines the nonprofit organization’s origin story. Its founding team includes a roster of corporate superstars—Ken Chenault (former CEO of American Express), Ken Frazier (former CEO of Merck), Charles Phillips (chair of Infor), Ginni Rometty... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Demographics; Ethics; Organizations; Social Enterprise; Society; Business or Company Management; Nonprofit Organizations

November 2021
Teaching Note

Andela: Africa's AWS for Talent

By: Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins and Joyce Kim

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 321-113. View Details

July 2000 (Revised February 2001)
Case

alphaWorks: IBM's Technology Talent Agents

AlphaWorks has catalyzed IBM researchers and offered them a new path to take technology to market. With success, though, comes new organizational challenges. Should John Wolpert extend alphaWorks to all IBM labs, refocus, or shut down its operations? View Details

Keywords: Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Research and Development

Find at Harvard

24 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Part-Time Employees Want More Hours. Can Companies Tap This ‘Hidden’ Talent Pool?

looking for talent in a tight job market. “A company has to understand that rigidity around job descriptions and work processes artificially constrains the pool of talent that they can access for a... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

October 2005 (Revised August 2006)
Supplement

GE's Talent Machine: Immelt's Next Steps

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Keywords: Electronics Industry

2017
Working Paper

Digital Labor Markets and Global Talent Flows

By: John Horton, William R. Kerr and Christopher Stanton

Digital labor markets are rapidly expanding and connecting companies and contractors on a global basis. We review the environment in which these markets take root, the micro- and macro-level studies of their operations, their ongoing evolution and recent trends, and... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Talent and Talent Management; Labor

15 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Are the Most Talented Employees the Highest Paid? Yes—If They’re Bankers

Job seekers who want to be paid commensurate with their talent level might want to pursue a career in high finance. Recent research finds that the finance industry compensates employees largely according to how View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Supplement

GE's Talent Machine: The Making of a CEO

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

CEO Jeff Immelt, ex-CEO Jack Welch, and HR Chief Bill Conaty discuss how GE has made talent development a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Immelt describes GE's deeply embedded philosophy around its people and how it has allowed the company to add value... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Business or Company Management; Performance Capacity; Performance Effectiveness; Competitive Advantage; System; Value

November 1981
Case

Assessing Managerial Talent at AT&T (A)

By: Michael Beer

Provides background on the assessment center used by AT&T to assess managerial potential for upper middle management. Contains assessment reports for two candidates. Raises questions about manpower training and development. Students may be asked which of the candidates... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Performance Evaluation; Management Teams; Executive Education; Management Skills