When you nurture & nourish, you flourish. Alternatively, you perish. This as an adage is true for ecology as much as it is for the talent eco-system in the corporate environment.

It is always an easier option to go for inorganic alternatives. No waiting, no investments, no putting in efforts, no retention problems. In an obtuse way, it is a 'just-in- time' quick talent solution 😜

And it is a long established pattern. The chances of success with organic talent in a succession frame is much higher than the chances of success of inorganic Talent in the same frame. There is thus no alternative for leadership but to invest in long term organic nurturing of talent.

Organic talent when systematically nurtured and nourished is culture sensitive. It's comparative chances of successfully 'flowering' are much higher purely on this count. Often times, it is not 'competency' as much as it is 'culture-fit' that accounts for failure of talent. 'Culturally seasoned' therefore an attractive value proposition to build a business case for internal talent.

Internal talent is also assessed very closely having been longer a part of that system. It is subjected to a much closer scrutiny and live assessment of performances over the tenure it has spent in the system. In contrast, inorganic talent is assessed at best over a two hour interview and some superficial reference checking. Thus the comparative assessment of inorganic talent is weaker thereby impacting it's probability of success.

Retention challenges are much lesser for organic talent because of deep social roots & connections it develops over sustained longer period of it's presence in the system. Predictive analysis indicates that chances of losing (new inorganically acquired ) talent , within one year's time, to the old Co wherefrom the candidate was recruited, is very high !

When you seriously nurture talent, the butter-fly effect of this on the overall Engagement in the enterprise is high. The General mood is positive and so is the belief in the enterprises processes and systems.

Whilst seriously building this business case for organic nurturing of talent one is not unmindful of contexts where there could arise a serious prescription for inorganic supplements for talent particularly when the enterprise is: ~ seriously Engaging in culture transformation ~ entering new market segments ~ changing it's value-chain investments ~ shifting it's business models ~ replenishing talent post attack by competitor ~ countering serious innovation challenges ~ non-core domain diversification or ~ sudden cracks in talent pipelines due to adversities.

Whilst the above are recommended contextual interventions, the general enterprise prescription is strong organic nurturing of talent with periodic supplements to the demography with 'hi-po' young cadres at early stages in the talent life-cycle.

Pure reliance on inorganic talent so that you can avoid investments in serious organic talent development is in a way like not brushing your teeth or undertaking dental hygiene because dental implants are easily available in the market !!! You will understand the pain of it, if you ever underwent dental procedures.

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