[Reading Record -153] "Talent Strategy" Harvard Business Review September 2024 Issue

What is the "Talent Strategy" to survive in an era of hiring difficulties?

It was two generations ago, but...
there was a trend of writing "human resources" (jinzai) using the character for "wealth" (jinzai) instead of the standard character for "resource".

In economics,the term "goods" (zai) refers to tangible "things".
It refers to items that can be seen and touched, transferred to others, or stocked (inventoried) after purchase.

The word "human wealth" (jinzai).
The intention was likely to call people "assets," but it carries a nuance of thinking of people as "possessions"...

What does HBR mean by "Talent Strategy"?

Now, the feature "Talent Strategy" in the September 2024 issue of Harvard Business Review has the theme ofredesigning talent not as a "target for procurement" but as "assets that create corporate value".

To that end, this issue covers "Talent Strategy" from different angles, such as
• The role of the HR department
• External professional talent
• Open talent
• Senior talent
• Engagement
.

The total population of Japan in 2024, when this issue was published, was approximately 123.75 million. The current total population (as of June 2026) is approximately 122.85 million. It has decreased by about 900,000.

And considering that the median age, which was 49.4 in 2024, has risen to 49.8 in 2026,the declining birthrate and aging population are definitely accelerating.

Peter Cappelli

HR should be a department that cultivates management resources, not an "administrative department"

Question:Why can't companies escape labor shortages?
Conclusion:The cause is not the hiring market, but the company's own talent management.

Cappelli points out that the HR department is dominated by the logic of "cost reduction." Reducing investment in education, leaving vacancies unfilled, and downsizing boost profits in the short term. However, behind the scenes,"invisible liabilities" such as employee burnout, rising turnover rates, and declining productivity are piling up.

That is why he argues that HR shouldrethink welfare and education not as "costs" but as investments, and return to the role ofcultivating talentthrough internal labor markets and reskilling.

Hiring difficulty is not a problem of talent shortage, but a problem of talent strategy.

John Winsor / Jin H. Paik

From hiring to an era of utilizing a "cloud of talent"

Question:Can companies continue to secure the necessary talent on their own?
Conclusion:From now on, utilizing professional talent from around the world, rather than relying solely on employees, will become a competitive advantage.

It is said that there are over 800 digital talent platforms in the world, with about 500 million professional talents registered. Companies can secure the necessary skills in a matter of hours to days, and hiring costs can also be kept lower than before.

What is important is not the binary opposition of "full-time employee or external talent," buta shift in thinking toward combining the necessary capabilities at the necessary timing.

Companies are moving from an era of owning people to an era of connecting talent.

Diane Gherson / Lynda Gratton

Organizations that can make external talent their "allies" are strong

Question:How can external professional talent become a force for an organization?
Conclusion:The key is not the form of the contract, but the relationship with the organization.

The authors explain the importance of welcoming external talent as members who share the organizational culture, rather than treating them as mere "helpers." By sharing the philosophy and values with external talent from the start, and by accumulating knowledge in a digital workspace rather than keeping it confined to individuals, the learning speed of the entire team is increased.

Consequently, the role of managers must also change.
They are required to be sponsors who create an environment where experts can demonstrate their abilities, rather than just administrators who issue instructions.

What organizations should manage is knowledge and relationships.

Ken Dychtwald

Seniors are not "people who retire," but people who support the organization's knowledge

Question:Is hiring young people the only way to compensate for labor shortages?
Conclusion:The greatest human asset that companies are overlooking is senior talent.

The author argues that the "retirement age" system needs to be re-evaluated.
While older talent may be inferior to younger generations in "fluid intelligence" (the ability to quickly absorb new knowledge), they excel in "crystallized intelligence" (the ability to discern the essence from experience). Losing that insight is a major loss for a company.

That is why mechanisms to retain experience within the organization, such as phased retirement systems, boomerang hiring, mentoring programs, and multi-generational teams, are becoming important.

The key to solving labor shortages lies not only in finding new talent, but also in utilizing the talent you already have.

McDonald's Japan

Engagement is born from culture, not from systems

Question:Why is McDonald's Japan able to hire so many people and have them play an active role for a long time?
Conclusion:Because they place "people" at the center of their business.

The company positions itself as a "people business."
Rather than treating part-time workers as mere labor, they nurture each individual as someone who embodies the brand. To that end, they have built educational systems such as "Hamburger University" and a culture that celebrates challenges, such as the "All Japan Crew Contest."

Furthermore, they are redirecting the time created by digitalization, such as mobile ordering, toward the value of customer service, which only humans can provide. In other words, McDonald's Japan is not trying to reduce people through technology, but trying to increase the time people can work in a human-like way. That is likely where the company's philosophy lies.

What should be read from this feature

The five articles listed here may seem to deal with different themes, but those themes converge into a single message.

It is the importance of shifting the concept of human resources from gathering talent to designing systems that leverage talent.

Moving from cost management to growth support. Also, incorporating external professional talent as an organizational strength. Furthermore, instead of having senior talent retire, connecting their knowledge to the next generation. That is what creates a culture where people want to keep working...

In other words, what is depicted in this special feature is the message: Why don't we redesign the entire company as a single talent ecosystem in this coming era of recruitment difficulties!.

My thoughts

Therefore, in the coming era, the HR department may need to adopt the mindset of connecting people rather than the concept of gathering people.

Employees, freelancers, seniors, side-job talent...
From now on, companies must change from being mere mechanisms for generating profit into places that create value by combining the strengths of each individual.

Precisely because it is an era of recruitment difficulties, what is truly being questioned is not recruitment power.

What is being questioned is the design capability of the organization itself.

Reference links

・DIAMOND Harvard Business Review September 2024 Issue