I met Dr. Sharna Wiblen, author of Rethinking Talent Decisions: A Tale of Complexity, Technology and Subjectivity, at an HR technology conference in 2025 where we discussed the subjective nature of talent management. Dr. Wiblen’s observation that “talent decisions are complex because talent is a socially constructed concept” (Wiblen, 2024, p. 3) strongly aligns with my views that talent and performance management involve “making social judgments…about how much the organization values having an employee as a member” (Hunt, 2022, p.164). Dr. Wiblen and I both view talent management as a form of social decision-making, and the more she told me about her book Rethinking Talent Decisions, the more I wanted to read it.
Rethinking Talent Decisions is intended to help organizations improve talent management processes but is unlike most books written on the topic of talent management. Most talent management books are filled with models, processes, and methods for identifying and retaining high-potential employees and measuring and developing employee performance. They often read like “how-to” books with step-by-step instructions for building talent management processes. In contrast, Rethinking Talent Decisions reads more like a philosophy book about talent management. It challenges the reader to explore underlying beliefs and assumptions that shape how we approach the concept of talent management. As Dr. Wiblen puts it, “I aim to incite questions and inspire you to think critically and deeply about the issues and topics we explore” (p. XXVI).
Rethinking Talent Decisions is written for readers who seek to understand the nature of talent management at a fundamental level. This is a group I belong to, as I have a deep interest in the topic. Readers looking for prescriptive guidance for building talent management processes may find Rethinking Talent Decisions to be overly theoretical. If you are looking for explicit steps on how to construct performance rating scales or conduct talent review meetings, this may not be the right book for you. But if the following passage about talent management piques your interest, then you are likely to find this book to be an interesting dive into the ontological, epistemological, sociological, and technological factors that define and influence how leaders identify and measure talent within organizations.
As sentient human beings, we humans possess a range of cognitive and emotional faculties that shape our understanding and perception of talent. Our perspectives and opinions can fluctuate over time, leading to a dynamic concept of talent. This human factor adds a layer of complexity to talent decision-making, as individual biases, beliefs and values can influence how talent is identified, assessed, and managed within organizations. (p.1)
Rethinking Talent Decisions guides us through questions to address and clarify the complex, multifaceted nature of talent decisions within a company. It starts by delving into the subjective nature of talent, noting that even the meaning of the word “talent” varies from one person to the next. Talent is often treated as a fixed entity someone is said to possess, but, in reality, talent is highly dynamic, reflecting behaviors a person displays over time, how those behaviors compare to behaviors displayed by other people within an organization, and whether the behaviors are felt to align with the changing strategic needs of the organization. Dr. Wilben encourages readers to think of talent as a verb instead of a noun, given its transient nature. People do not have talent; they display talent. What defines talent also changes across stakeholders within an organization. For example, an employee viewed as highly talented by external customers or managers could be viewed differently by senior leaders who have different priorities, perceptions, and expectations.
The book also explores how technology companies and consulting vendors influence how companies define talent and make talent decisions. These groups are cast in a somewhat negative light, referred to as “foil characters because their values fundamentally clash with [those of the organization]” (p. 25). The book emphasizes the risk of companies adopting talent decision methods promoted by technology companies or consulting vendors that do not reflect the unique needs of the organization. The definitions and methods used to make talent decisions should not be adopted from one source. Companies should actively negotiate the meaning, identification and management of talent by bringing together different stakeholder groups, including executives, HR, IT, and line managers. Openly discussing conflicts that arise when answering critical questions, such as “what does talent mean in our organization” (p. 163), “what talent identification process is best for our organization?” (p. 174), or “which talent management technology system is best for our organization” (p. 183).
My experience helping companies design talent management methods has given me some fairly strong opinions about talent management practices. Rethinking Talent Decisions does an excellent job calling out subtle yet critical concepts that tend to be ignored in many discussions about talent management.
However, there are a few places where I found myself questioning assertions made in the book.
- Technology is treated more as a necessary evil that companies must use as opposed to a tool to manage talent in more effective ways. Technology both limits and enables how companies make talent decisions. Companies that fail to embrace technological innovation when rethinking talent decisions are condemning employees to live in a world constrained by limitations of outdated talent management solutions.
- The book says, “talent is so complex and includes all the subtleties of life and organizations that it cannot be reduced to a single number, numerical digit, score, or measure” (p. 214). I agree that a person’s full talents cannot be captured by a single number, but the reality is that the most impactful talent management decisions ultimately come down to a single ordinal rating of one sort or another. Deciding to pay one person more than another is a form of numerical rating, and choosing whether or not to promote someone is a binary rating of their potential. Ratings may be inadequate to describe people in their full glory, but they are a necessary part of talent decisions. I found myself wanting more discussion of how to reconcile the complex nature of talent with the reductive need to rate people to guide operational talent decisions.
- One particular statement in the book struck me as highly odd: “talent scores emphasize past performance. And as we know from Finance ‘past performance is not an indication of future performance’” (p. 214). Past performance may not predict future performance in finance, although I question this claim, but one of the fundamental findings in psychology is that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior in similar situations. Talent scores, assuming they accurately reflect past job performance, are likely to be one of the most effective predictors of future performance in similar roles.
- The book states that “talent management is inherently unequal and cannot be fair” (p.179). This might confuse some readers, given that well-designed talent management methods play an instrumental role in improving perceptions of fairness by improving procedural justice around compensation and staffing decisions that impact employees’ careers (Beaugre & Baron, 2006). I asked the author, Dr. Wiblen, about this, and she explained that because she is Australian some of the words in the book may have different connotations compared to American talent management texts. In Australia, the word “fair” is often used to mean treating all people the same way, whereas in the US, being fair is more about being able to equitably justify why some people are treated differently from others.
Rethinking Talent Decisions provides an in-depth examination of factors that affect how companies define, identify and manage talent. It also incorporates a variety of illustrative and sometimes whimsical stories to make points ranging from quoting Brene Brown to reciting lyrics from the 80s boy band New Kids on the Block. I particularly appreciated the author’s focus on the impact talent decisions have on employee well-being. Talent management is not just about the performance of organizations. It is also about the lives of the people in the organization, and “groups of humans should discuss their beliefs, ideas, mental impressions, and thoughts to ensure they have a shared understanding of the key concepts that form the basis of their talent decisions” (p. 91). This is a discussion well worth having in any company, regardless of size or industry.
An added personal reward I gained from reading this book was the chance to engage with Dr. Wiblen, a scientist who shares my interest in talent management but approaches it from a more sociological versus psychological perspective. We plan to delve further into this topic, exploring how companies can optimally balance the value of having a highly qualitative, expansionist view toward the definition of talent with the operational need to reduce assessments of talent into specific metrics and categories that can be used to guide talent decisions at scale across the organization. Maybe that will be a future book?
References
Beugre, C. D., & Baron, R. A. (2006). Perceptions of systemic justice: The effects of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31(2), 324–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb00199.x
Hunt, S. T. (2022). Talent tectonics: Navigating global workforce shifts, building resilient organizations, and reimagining the employee experience. Wiley Press.
Wiblen, S. (2024). Rethinking talent decisions: A tale of complexity, technology, and subjectivity. De Gruyter Press.
