Steven T. Hunt - Talent Tectonics: Navigating Global Workforce Shifts, Building Resilient Organizations and Reimagining the Employee Experience

1. Introduction
2. Chapter 3
3. Chapter 9

1. Foreword
2. Introduction
3. Chapter 1
4. Chapter 2
5. Chapter 3
6. Chapter 4
7. Chapter 5
8. Chapter 6
9. Chapter 7
10. Chapter 8
11. Chapter 9
12. Appendix

STEVEN T. HUNT, PhD

NAVIGATING GLOBAL WORKFORCE SHIFTS, BUILDING RESILIENT ORGANIZATIONS, AND REIMAGINING THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

FOREWORD BY DAVE ULRICH, RENSIS LIKERT COLLEGIATE PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Copyright 2022 by Steven T. Hunt. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 9781119885184 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781119885207 (ePDF)

ISBN 9781119885191 (ePub)

Cover Design: Wiley

Cover Image: Stephanie Schmidt

This book is dedicated broadly to previous generations who fought for the better working conditions we now have, current generations who are finding innovative ways to improve the employee experience, and future generations who will hopefully realize the dream of providing meaningful work to all people the world over. At a personal level the book is dedicated to my parents Earl (Buz) and Marylou Hunt, who improved millions of lives directly and indirectly through their work as cognitive and counseling psychologists; my children, Robert and Antonio, who are starting their own career journeys and who will always be high potential talent in the eyes of their father; and especially to my wife, Dr. Cynthia Caraballo-Hunt, whose work as a family medicine physician betters peoples lives in profound ways, including my own most of all.

Decades ago, in my first Organizational Behavior course, my then-teacher and now mentor advocated, Organizations don't think, people do. This mantra became an obsessive quest for me to figure out how people come together to create organizations that so dramatically influence all parts of our lives (how we work, play, eat, dress, and worship). Years later, after lots of observations, research, and writing, I tweaked his mantra, Organizations don't think, people do; but organizations shape how people think, act, and feel. Why does this maxim matter? Because, as Steve articulately points out in this impactful book, recent societal trends of digitalization and demographics are changing the ways employees respond to organizations and how organizations influence employees. With unprecedented physical, social, economic, political, and emotional uncertainties, it behooves business and HR leaders to respond to these changes in positive ways.

Steve's ideas help turn potential threats of uncertainty into opportunities for progress. He masterfully offers insights based on solid evidence and relevant experience coupled with diagnostic questions and useful tools. What I most like is that his blueprint for reimagining work navigates paradoxes that organizations must balance as they seek to support the goals of diverse stakeholders. He does not fall prey to the simplistic trap of moving from A to B, but he recognizes the evolution of ideas that suggests A and/also B. Managing the paradox of both A and B requires more complex analysis that leads to more informed decisions. Some of these paradoxes include these actions:

• Balancing past, present, and future. We do not leave the past behind but live with it today as we create a better tomorrow. Steve consistently puts new ideas into their historical context and shows the evolution of thinking that cumulatively creates a new future. This applies to psychological trends about why people work, gender equity, worker's rights, employee primacy, and digital evolution. Rather than denigrating the past, he consistently brings it forward into our present, then anticipates what is next.
• Balancing the individual and the organization. A major insight I take from this book is the clever melding of how individuals (called workforces, employees, talent, people, competence) come together into organizations (called workplaces, teams, cultures, systems, capabilities) to enhance both. Because of people, organizations operate more effectively. Because of organizations, people have higher well-being. The seven workforce challenges Steve addresses in the book have implications for both how organizations operate, such as how to get the right people into the right roles? and how individuals function within organizations, such as how do I move into a role that works best for me? He talks about agility both as an organizational capability and as an individual competence. His recognition of both human and organization elements of the future of work adeptly characterizes the inevitable trade-offs that leaders must manage to build effective companies.
• Balancing information as data and as guidance.