6 1GX THE TIMESWednesday October 6 2010

European pickof the bunch

The IESE Business Schoolin Barcelona is trawlingtop European universi-ties for talent in a movethat will make its MBAcohort one of the most

youthful ever. Javier Muñoz, theadmissions director and leader of theschool’s young talent programme,explains: “Employers were telling usthat they could not find the talentthey needed, especially in these diffi-cult times.”Although hundreds of thousands ofgraduates flood on to the jobs marketeach year, some employers are veryselective about who they attract andretain. Working with more than 15international partners, includingBCG, Nestlé, Philips, Johnson & John-son, Microsoft and Santander, IESEhas established a profile for unearth-

ing young talent. Muñoz says: “Ourpreferred candidate will have twodegrees and fluency in two or moremodern languages. They will be goodcommunicators, have a well-roundedprofile and have travelled extensively.We are talking about the top 1 percent. These are people who are evenbetter than our MBA students.”In the UK the school has contactedthe universities of Oxford and Cam-bridge as well as the London Schoolof Economics. So far IESE hasdiscovered 76 supercharged individ-uals — more or less equal numbers ofmen and women — and placed themin companies linked to the scheme.Two to three years later the youngtalent will interrupt their careers todo a one-year full-time MBA.Fahey Sheble, 24, from NorthCarolina, took a business degree inSpain. Since joining the talent pro-gramme she has worked as an internat L’Oréal in Madrid and has nowbeen offered a full-time job.The injection of so many youngerstudents into what is a traditionalfull-time MBA cohort will lower theage profile from its current 27 to 24 or25. Muñoz says: “We wanted toattract more young women to theMBA because a career break at 27comes at a time when women mightwant to start a family and could well

have other commitments. Employersare also telling us that they want tosee younger people with MBAs.”Boston Consulting Group in Spain,one of the partners in the talentprogramme, believes that the partner-ship with IESE is helping to contrib-ute to an intellectually stimulatingenvironment and strong client teams.“These young talented profession-als are helping us to find insight invery diverse business situations,” saysMaria Bosch, recruiting manager ofBCG Spain.The school and its business part-ners are delighted with the take-up ofthe scheme but are realistic. They aredealing with generation Y, an ageband whose desire for greater work-life balance and values-driven mind-set have brought them into conflictwith traditionally minded employers.

Muñoz says: “We put no obligationon any of our young talent to studyfor the MBA. They might decide thatfurther study is not for them.”On the other hand, employers whohave made a commitment to sponsorstudents to take an MBA commonlymake them sign a contract guarantee-ing that they will return and work forthe company for two to three yearsafter graduating.IESE is also investing in thescheme by putting on a regular one-week workshop at its Barcelonacampus to bring the young talent to-gether, introduce some of the MBAfaculty and ideas and build a commu-nity. Last July more than 70 prospec-tive students attended.“We see that as a positive sign thatthese people are on track to join usfor an MBA,” Muñoz says.

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Academicscannot agree onthe meaning oftalent, writesStephen Hoare

MBA

Susan Boyle, singing star of Britain’s Got Talent, has made people think about talent and how it can be nurtured

Even as an engineeringundergraduate Guillem Rojo knewhe needed high-level businessskills to succeed in his chosenprofession. “I was studying at theUniversity Polytechnic ofCatalonia and just before my finalyear I applied to take a year outstudying business at MIT inAmerica,” Rojo, 24, says. “I wasselected from more than 200students to take part in anexchange programme.”

In Spain it is possible to mixand match degree modulesbetween institutions and, on hisreturn from MIT, Rojo applied totake a single module in macroeconomics at the University ofBarcelona to run concurrentlywith the final year of hisengineering degree. Then a friendtipped him off about IESE’snewly launched young talentprogramme.

Rojo was invited by IESE toapply for fast-track graduatemanagement developmentprogrammes among its partnercompanies. He now works forBoston Consulting Group andplans to join IESE’s MBA cohort in2012 when he will have threeyears’ management experienceunder his belt.

“I’m working as part of a teamhelping an international telecomsoperator to develop a five-yearbusiness plan,” he says. “I willreturn to the Boston Group aftermy MBA but my ambition is to setup my own business.”STEPHEN HOARE

Spanish success

Been there, done it

Any business wanting toboost its performanceand profitability willbe familiar with theterm talent manage-ment. But, despite

piles of books on the subject, academ-ics still argue over the meaning oftalent and MBA courses are failing toincorporate current best practice.Saïd Business School’s executiveeducation arm works with organisa-tions to design talent managementprogrammes that identify and dev-elop future leaders. Saïd has workedwith BAE Systems and the Govern-ment of Abu Dhabi to identify theirskills needs and to develop theirtalent in line with business strategy.Andrew White, associate dean ofexecutive education at Saïd, says:“We do extensive research withinorganisations to find out the strategicissues they are facing. More and morecompanies are using customiseddevelopment plans to stretch theirtalented individuals and to preparethem for leadership roles.”Paul Sparrow, director of thecentre for performance-led humanresources at Lancaster UniversityManagement School, is usingresearch into the way businessesnurture talent to boost the MBAsyllabus. He believes that organisa-tions need to apply talent manage-ment far more widely than merelydeveloping the top 1 per cent.“Organisations should be aware ofall the capabilities and skills that theirpeople can bring. All the long-termchallenges that organisations face arearound innovation and change. They

need to find a way of putting theirpeople at the heart of strategy.”Cutting-edge talent managementbrings HR and business strategytogether in a powerful boost to busi-ness performance, says Sparrow, whois designing a new MBA modulecalled Leading HR. “Leaders shouldall be talent managers. The module isabout the challenge of being a leaderwho takes responsibility for people —recognising and helping them todevelop their talent.”Lancaster’s centre for perform-ance-led HR recently commissioneda paper from the talent directors ofRoyal Mail, RBS, the Department ofWork and Pensions and NG Bailey,the electrical contractor. Posted onthe school’s website, it points to theneed for a more evidence-basedapproach to talent management.The findings indicate that talentmanagement should be driven by linemanagers and not by HR, whichshould act as an enabler and reflectbusiness challenges such as demo-

graphics and regulatory change. Busi-ness schools face an uphill struggleconvincing students that talent man-agement is cutting edge and not somefluffy abstraction.“Talent management is arguablythe biggest single preoccupation inboardrooms in the UK and interna-tionally,” says Mark Batey, lecturer inorganisational psychology at Man-chester Business School.Batey confronted his students witha recent IBM global survey of chiefexecutives that demolished the myththat business success equates to im-proving technical skills. The largemajority of chief executives attribut-ed their success to creativity, innova-tion and being able to manage com-plexity, none of which is taught aspart of the standard MBA fare.“If that is what chief executiveswant, then I do not believe businessschools are doing a very good job inpreparing people for future leader-ship,” he says.Professor Chris Brady, dean of BPP

Business School, part of BPP Univer-sity College, says: “Managing talent isnot a skill you can learn in the class-room. It’s a skill you can pick up.” Hebelieves that by bringing togethertalented individuals, an MBA helpspeople to work collaboratively inteams, mixing with individuals fromacross many cultures and, in the pro-cess, developing their own manage-ment style. He certainly has a point.The Manchester approach to talentmanagement is more proactive, shift-ing students’ mentalities and challeng-ing their ways of thinking.Batey discusses the results of psy-chometric tests with each student andgets them to focus on their individualmanagement style, their strengths aswell as their blind spots.“An individual’s greatest strengthscan also be his greatest weaknesses. Ameticulous organiser, for example,can become over-controlling andtyrannical. Assignments and groupwork are designed to help students togrow as individuals.”

IESE is seekingto discover thebrightest youngstudents, saysStephen Hoare

MBA

Ken Brotherston, chief executiveof Kinsey Allen International, theCity search and selection firm, hassome uncomfortable news forMBA students. He rates thequalification as less importantthan the ability to communicateand to think creatively.

“For me talent consists of threethings — education, experienceand personality. The MBA is not aguarantee of talent, it’s onlysomething to be looked at in theround,” he says.

“I think increasingly thatsuccess in a leadership role boilsdown to an ability tocommunicate. I have seen toomany MBA students who comeout of business school speakingmanagement jargon. Speakingjargon on the shop floor is notgoing to go down well. In aleadership role you have to beable to engage the workforce.”

And, when it comes toexperience, employers arelooking for people who havedealt with rapid change andsteered a business throughturbulent times. Managementtheory learnt on an MBA is nosubstitute for hard knocks.

Brotherston says: “Employerswould prefer people who havebeen there and done it; peoplewho have experienced workingthrough a downturn. To survive,high-flyers must be people whoare comfortable with changeand able to deal withcomplexity.”

In spite of the battery ofpsychometric tests the bestindication of ability for searchagencies and employers is a lotmore mundane. “A CV thatdemonstrates consistentachievement is always going tobe the best indicator of talent,”Brotherston says.STEPHEN HOARE

Finding top performers

The Barcelona school is hoping to attract more women at a younger age