3 Quick Ways to Become a Talent Magnet!

I was having coffee one morning a couple of weeks ago with a friend and I was telling her about a book I was reading. One of the more interesting chapters of the book was focused on being a talent magnet. As soon as I mentioned the words talent magnet, she went off on a bit of a tangent…

“You don’t need to read a book on that…just get a dog and you will have more talent than you can shake a stick at. It will be like fishing in a barrel.”  She then proceeded to go on about the virtues of having a dog and how I would clean up with one.

At first, I was a little confused as to what the hell she was talking about. In her defense, it was early, and she hadn’t had much of her coffee yet…

Then finally it hit me, the type of talent she was talking about was not at all like the talent I was going to tell her about.

She was talking about a talent magnet in terms of something that attracts females, in this case, a dog. Once I explained to her that I meant it in the business sense of attracting great employees, she laughed and said, “oh, I gettttt it now!!!! Tell me more…”

I then proceeded to tell her about the book I was reading which is called Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman. More specifically I told her about one of the chapters which discussed…the talent magnet.

A quick note about the book…

Wiseman studied over 150 leaders across 4 continents and various industries and companies looking for common elements of great leaders which they call ‘Multipliers’. According to the author, “multipliers are genius makers. What we mean by that is that they make everyone around them smarter and more capable. Multipliers invoke each person’s unique intelligence and create an atmosphere of genius-innovation, productive effort, and collective intelligence.” ¹ 

One of the areas in which multipliers excel is attracting, utilizing and grooming top talent – in essence, a multiplier is a…talent magnet…

Ok, So What is a Talent Magnet?

Wiseman states that talent magnets are simply “people who attract the best talent, utilize it to its fullest, and ready it for the next stage. These are leaders who have a reputation not only for delivering results but for creating a place where young, talented people can grow. They are accelerators to other people’s careers.” ¹

Do you know anyone who is a talent magnet? Are you a talent magnet? (and I don’t mean in terms of attracting potential romantic partners!)

Let’s now move on to some actionable stuff that we can sink our teeth into.

The 4 Active Practices That Catalyze Talent Attraction:

During their research, the author and her team found that Multipliers did 4 things that helped them attract talent, they:

(1)  Seek out talent everywhere

A talent magnet is ALWAYS on the lookout for great new talent. And they look everywhere, not just their own organization. They know they can find talent in many different places and many different forms.

Genius can come in many forms and talent magnets understand this. Some people are better at quantitative analysis or verbal reasoning. Some are more creative and excel at coming up with fresh new ideas.

(2)  Identify people’s native genius

They are always trying to figure out what Wiseman refers to as the employees “native genius” which is something they not only do well but something they do naturally and easily.

By finding someone’s native genius you are able to unlock discretionary effort which will propel them to go above and beyond and really utilize what they excel at.

Wiseman also advises that once you find someone’s native genius, that you label it or make them aware of it. By letting them know that you have noticed it, you are both raising their awareness and giving them confidence, which will aid them in engaging in it more fully.

Seeing as how the Super Bowl was just last week, a perfect example of a talent magnet is New England coach Bill Belichick. He never has the most talented players but what he does do is find their native genius. It’s amazing how he consistently brings in players that have been average on other teams but seem to excel with the Patriots. When evaluating talent, it is clear that he sees something specific in them that he believes would help his team.

(3)  Utilize Individuals at Their Fullest

After a talent magnet has identified someone’s native genius, he or she then tries to find opportunities to put it to work.

Back to Belichick. Once he identifies the one or two things players really excel at, he plugs them into the system and boom, success! The fact that he has been to 9 of the last 18 Super Bowls and won 6 is a testament to him being a talent magnet. It’s incredible!

(4)  Remove the obstacles

Lastly, the talent magnet not only attracts great talent, but they are great at developing it. Part of the job of the talent magnet is to provide the space and resources that the employee needs to flourish. Oftentimes this involves extricating (sorry, I had a thesaurus for breakfast) anyone who is impeding or blocking their growth. Sometimes this is a prima donna and sometimes this is the talent magnet themselves.

They don’t allow anyone to be bigger than the team as it can diminish the effectiveness of others.  Talent magnets ensure those prima donnas either shape up or they are shipped out. As Wiseman says, “If you want to unleash the talent that is latent in your organization, find the weeds and pull them out”¹

Again, and I am not a Patriots fan, but while many teams in the NFL are full of prima donnas, the New England Patriots have none! Belichick simply won’t stand for it and part of it may be the types of players he attracts as a talent magnet.

Talent magnets are also adept at stepping out of the way themselves and not micromanaging their employees. A great quote from the book on this is: “Nothing grows under a banyan tree. It provides shade and is comfortable, but it allows no sun in for growth. Many leaders are banyan trees, they protect their people, but nothing grows under them.” ¹

In terms of how to become a talent magnet, Wiseman offers…

3 Suggestions on How to Become a Talent Magnet…

Which you may want to experiment with:

(1)  Name the genius: figure out what people on your team (or an individual who is struggling) are great at doing easily and freely.

(2)  Supersize it: evaluate their current capabilities and then offer a challenge that is one size too big. Get them a little out of their comfort zone by giving them increased decision-making authority or a leadership role – and then take a step back and watch them grow into it!

(3)  Let a superstar move on: this is a tough one as it is hard to watch an A+ player move on from your team. But sometimes people stop growing in a current role and it is time for them to move on to a new challenge. And oftentimes they won’t grow unless you let them move on.

Once I Explained the Concept of a Talent Magnet…

…to my friend, she completely got it and said she’d put it to use at her job.

She then smiled, winked and said, “But I still think you should get a dog!”

“Not a chance!” I responded. “You are barking up the wrong tree”

And now that this blog post has come to its conclusion, I feel like the dog that caught the bus. So, I guess I’ll go have a cat nap.

Until next time, keep being a talent magnet, and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

Use It or Lose It

Remember the 4 things that talent magnets to attract talent, they:

(1)  Seek talent out everywhere.
(2)  Identify people’s native genius.
(3)  Utilize individuals at their fullest.
(4)  Remove the obstacles.

3 things you can try to become a talent magnet:

(1)  Name the genius: figure out what people on your team are great at doing easily and freely.

(2)  Supersize it: evaluate their current capabilities and then offer a challenge that is one size too big.

(3)  Let a superstar move on: sometimes people stop growing in a current role and it is time for them to move on to a new challenge.

When to Use It:

When you are trying to attract and keep great talent.

What Do You Think?

Are you a talent magnet? Do you know a talent magnet? Do any of the ideas we discussed in this blog post resonate with you? Please discuss in the comments below.

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References

Wiseman, L., & McKeown, G. (2017). Multipliers: How the best leaders make everyone smarter. New York: HarperBusiness.