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Where’s Your Pivotal Talent?

As organizations increasingly compete through talent, their investments in human capital will determine their competitive positions. Yet HR’s way of managing this key resource stands in sharp contrast to how other organizational functions operate. Marketing, finance, and most other functions have well-developed methodologies for generating the information managers need to make strategic decisions. HR, however, often focuses principally on its own performance, carefully measuring cost per hire, the ROI on its programs, and how its initiatives affect skills and attitudes. It’s time for HR to shift its focus from what it does to the quality of the talent decisions it supports. HR needs to develop a systematic process for improving decisions, not just implementing them.

A version of this article appeared in the April 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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