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When it comes to development, it’s the quality of the challenge that matters.  There's a phrase for it: developmental heat. There's an emphasis in professional development today: growth is associated with being given a coach, being assigned a sponsor, or maybe having your MBA supported.  High-touch, white-glove development.  It has to be the best strategy, right?  Wrong.  Roughly 70% of meaningful development happens through the work itself: through the stretch, the pressure,

by Angela Lane and Sergey Gorbatov Performance has long been one of the central levers of talent management. Most organizations still rely on a familiar formula: set goals at the start of the year, review progress along the way, and evaluate performance at the end of the year. That model made sense in a stable world. It makes less sense now. AI is reshaping work. Business priorities are shifting faster, roles are evolving in real time, and teams are being reconfigured more of

Let's talk about power. Not leadership power. Not empowerment. But power. The uncomfortable kind. The kind that determines who gets noticed, who gets promoted, and who gets passed over despite exceptional work. The politics of your career. Now pause. Notice how you're feeling. If our opening paragraph made you tense up — if something in it makes you want to click away — this article is for you. The Uncomfortable Truth About Value  We've spent decades studying and advising o

Let’s start with the uncomfortable truth: feedback is one of the most overused words in corporate life… and one of the least effective behaviors in corporate life. We tell managers, “Give more feedback.” We tell employees, “Be open to feedback.” Then we act surprised when nothing changes. But here’s the punchline from our recent LinkedIn Live : feedback doesn’t just fail  sometimes. In a meaningful chunk of cases, it actively makes performance worse. One major meta-analysis

By Angela Lane & Sergey Gorbatov AI is transforming work and business at an extraordinary speed. It promises to automate not only manual tasks but also decisions, problem-solving, interactions, and even creative processes. When talent is scarce (and most will agree it is),  this must be good news. But it raises a provocative question: If AI can alleviate talent scarcity, will talent management remain relevant? Our answer is yes — though the reasons  may evolve.  How We Got He

If you scroll through any thread on Reddit's r/CareerGuidance asking people what changed their careers, you’ll notice something fascinating. It’s often stories about saying yes to something everyone else ignored. One user wrote, “I work in land surveying. I was a field guy, and the company wanted another person in the office. No one wanted to do it, so I did. I’m now on my way to being licensed and I work from home. I guess doing what other people don’t want to do.”  (u/ cam

We all agree talent matters. The question is: Will you get better at managing it? To help you think through your talent agenda, we’ve...

Let’s get one thing straight: If you're not managing your personal brand, you're leaving your career to chance. In a world of portfolio...

How to Win with More Talent – One Hire at a Time By Angela Lane & Sergey Gorbatov When it comes to driving performance through talent,...