Talent management and developing leadership talent

An important aspect of talent management in the contemporary organization is the investment and development of leaders including leadership development. Developing leadership talent is viewed as a key lever in delivering competitive advantage in business today. Leadership can be viewed from multiple perspectives: as a personality with special traits or characteristics; an act or behavior shown by the leader; the capability, knowledge, and skills demonstrated by the leader; the process used by the leader to bring groups together; or transformative change and the power relationship that exists between leaders and followers. In essence, developing leadership talent is a multi-layered process, ideally involving a blended learning approach that incorporates formal, informal, and experiential learning. The development of the leader as an individual focuses on building and enhancing the individual's capability to undertake the role of a leader. A key aspect of leader development is that “it is ultimately about facilitating an identity transition” to create new leadership options.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in The Routledge Companion to Talent Management on August 19, 2021 , available online: http://www.routledge.com/9781138202146