In the Business of Talent

I think most companies are beginning to realise that beyond the labels of "Banking", "Telecom", "Financial Services", etc - they are all basically in the business of talent. And that talent is what is crucial to the success of their operations.

Which is why investment banks and private equity firms are now focused on assessing the workforce of an organization before investing in it - says this article in Workforce Management

How does one do due diligence of talent? Some indicators I can think of:

Quality of leadership
Depth of leadership talent (does the Firm have succession plans?)
Employee churn
Diversity of talent - Organizations that make conscious efforts to inrease this show significantly better performance
Quality of people processes - whether it is around advancement, global mobility, cultural integration, job rotations

Not all of these will have quantitative measures, and the article also talks about how qualitative measures may be equally powerful in assessing talent. What all of this essentially boils down to is culture - and if you really look at it, it is the common thread that holds all systems together. A firm that encourages its leaders to think about who their successors will be is also telling that they would soon be moving into bigger roles and they should not pass those opportunities due to lack of planning. A firm that encourages global mobility is also giving a message about its commitment to cultural diversity. Culture is no longer writing on the wall - it is real, palapable, and a big diffrentiator for success.