Talent Management - November 2008 - (Page 4)

[from the editor] by Mike Prokopeak W W Keep It Simple ith the U.S. presidential election season in the rearview, an intense time of grand speechmaking has come to a close — at least for the near term. In the months leading up to Election Day on Nov. 4, candidates made speech after speech on the stump, consistently hammering their campaign themes. Their speeches were ﬁlled with deft turns of phrase, zingers against the opposition and included a panoply of promises, pledges and proposals meant to persuade or pander, depending on your perspective. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was really planned as an afterthought at the consecration at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln, the sitting president of the United States, wasn’t even the featured speaker for the day. Event organizers invited famed orator Edward Everett, a former state governor, senator, secretary of state and vice presidential candidate, to deliver the day’s key speech. Everett’s ﬁrst paragraph alone is nearly 100 words, ﬁlled with drama, bombast and imagery. Immediate reaction, according to newspaper reports, was muted. In their coverage of the day’s events, some newspapers simply said, “The President also spoke.” Yet, the power of Lincoln’s brief words grew with time. The speech’s simplicity in theme and delivery is the key to its lasting power. Not a single word was wasted and each phrase was carefully and elegantly selected and constructed. In a time of difﬁculty and struggle, Lincoln understood that a simple, meaningful message delivered with power was the best route. Proposal after proposal and promise after promise weren’t the answer. Lincoln’s example illustrates that real power lies in focus on less, not more. As the world economy weathers an increasingly turbulent period, it’s a message that is worth remembering. It’s time to focus on the basics and prepare to emerge stronger and more agile. It’s not my intention to trivialize Lincoln’s words and draw a parallel between the difﬁcult conﬂicts of his time and the challenges of ours. But we can learn from great leaders of the past and apply their lessons to our day-to-day lives, even if we’re not on the national stage. As talent managers, we’re going to be challenged in the coming months to maintain our focus on talent despite persistent challenges. This is also an opportunity. It’s a chance for us to learn, innovate and deepen our partnerships with our leaders. What will we do to rise to the occasion? It’s time to focus on the fundamentals and prepare to emerge stronger and more agile. By the end of the campaign, it seemed like candidates were trying to persuade voters simply by wearing them down with the sheer volume of their words. There’s a tendency in leaders of all stripes to tackle a complex situation by simply continuing to talk. As the candidates’ words start to fade, it’s worth reﬂecting on the most memorable political speeches in American politics. Some may think of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inaugural address, when he said, “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself,” or John F. Kennedy’s, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” or Ronald Reagan’s Cold War challenge to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” But by far the most memorable speech in American history is also one of the shortest, spoken by one of our tallest ﬁgures, both literally and ﬁguratively. November 2008 He began: “Standing beneath this serene sky, overlooking these broad ﬁelds now reposing from the labors of the waning year, the mighty Alleghenies dimly towering before us, the graves of our brethren beneath our feet, it is with hesitation that I raise my poor voice to break the eloquent silence of God and Nature.” He ended 13,000 words and two hours later. Shortly thereafter, Lincoln stood up to provide the ﬁnal dedication. In just 10 sentences and 272 words, he delivered a speech that has inspired generations of leaders and their speechwriters. Beginning with the oft-repeated phrase, “Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,” Lincoln went on not only to dedicate a national cemetery on the site of the battle where more than 7,500 soldiers lost their lives, but to inspire future Americans to remember and continually strive for a higher purpose. Given its prominent place in history, it’s difﬁcult to imagine that Mike Prokopeak Editorial Director mikep@talentmgt.com 4 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - November 2008

Talent Management - November 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Recruitment & Retention Assessment & Evaluation Compensation & Benefits Performance Management Learning & Development Succession Planning Insight Dashboard Application Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - November 2008

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