Money's no object The notion of a war for talent has been around for at least a quarter of a century. As business jargon goes it has stood the test of time. The militaristic language adds drama. Blood may be spilt. One imagines Google and Microsoft in a tug of war competition with the talented AI specialist performing the role of a low tensile rope. Scarcity fuelled the war for talent. There are not enough skilled management consultants, Java programmers or derivatives traders, so we have no choice but to pander to their remuneration demands. In essence the war for talent was a problem that could be fixed with cash. Yesterday's problem? But the world has changed and continues to change. Some leaders are pinning their hopes on AI eventually obviating the need for people. Like generalised AI, this is a fantasy and will be for some time. So people have a value-creating role to play in most organisations, particularly in respect of innovation. As a reader of this newsletter, you will know that innovation is the mechanism by which organisations adapt to an increasingly unknowable world. And as you may have observed most organisations are not organised to distil the creativity of their people in pursuit of innovation. That is an existential table stakes problem. Similarly the war for talent has changed. Throwing money at the problem will not cut it. Talented people are less willing to do meaningless work even if they are rewarded very generously for what is in effect trading their lifeforce units for money. Not so easily fooled Key drivers of this change include: Demographic shifts – An aging workforce is more likely to value meaningful work than well paid meaningless work that connotes status and spending power. Hybrid work expectations – Some people have decided they like their family more than their employer and are not interested in organisations that would prefer the opposite. Global fluidity – Your organisation is no longer the only game in town. Remote work has opened the stage to a global beauty pageant of opportunities for top talent. Experiences trump careers – Some people have woken up to the fact that they only have one life, so they want to experience life in a manner that might be considered extreme work-life integration. The key to the c-suite bathroom has lost its allure. So perhaps for the first time ever, organisations will need to think of talented people as individuals rather than resources / cogs for the machine. HR departments will need to develop a passion for people rather than people processes. Why your organisation? So how do you move forward? The first step is to determine how strongly your employer brand contributes to attracting and retaining talent. Here is a simple tool to find out. Ask each employee which level reflects their primary reason for working.   Survival:  I have bills to pay. Stability:  I like having a predictable income. Comfort:  The remuneration enables me to have a comfortable lifestyle. Competence  – I like doing a job that conveys social status. Engagement  – I enjoy what I do. Mastery  – I like getting better at what I do. Craft  – I think of work as a form of self-expression. Contribution  – I like the idea that my employer is a force for good. Legacy  – I like the idea that my outputs will still be of value long after I am gone. Transformation  – I like working for a company that has a vision to change the world. On this scale it should be fairly obvious where Amazon fulfilment driver and SpaceX janitor sit. There are in essence three levels: Hygiene: 1 to 3 Professionalism: 4 to 7 Spiritual: 8 to 10. The scores are in Hygienic:   If your organisation scores in this zone, its chance of survival depends on whether you can automate everything and eliminate people. Organisations do not exist simply to make people comfortable. Today’s organisations need people who can turn cognitive horsepower into value. That requires much more than adhering to the ops manual. Professional:   There is something noble about becoming a craftsman. But organisations, particularly in times of disruption, are not monasteries. They must adapt to the macroenvironmental forces bearing down on them. People who are unwilling to adapt because they have a vision of themselves as an authority on for example agentic AI, or worse still data warehousing, will increasingly become a HR headache. Spiritual:   Such organisations attract people who see beyond their own interests. They will do what it takes to progress the mission. They will even role with a change of mission if the organisation maintains its ‘Don’t be evil’ stance. This is a problem if your organisation is predicated on: Giving young children type 2 diabetes. Dismantling families by empowering the breadwinner to always be within easy reach of a virtual Las Vegas. This need to support the greater good is a consequence of us being social animals. Smart employers will exploit this superpower / vulnerability. And the employees will love them for it. This article also appeared in the   Intelligent Organisation   newsletter on LinkedIn.

Health warning In this article, I will be delving into what many might consider an indelicate matter. It is important to highlight from the outset that I am not a gastroenterologist. This article is metaphorical and does not represent in any way a medical breakthrough in respect of this debilitating condition. The Symptoms Telltale signs of organisational constipation, include: Loss of appetite   – Your leadership team seems to lack ambition. The organisation appears to be coasting. Discomfort   – Getting even the simplest things done feels like an uphill challenge. Bloating   - Bureaucracy appears to be spreading into the simplest of processes, not unlike a yeast infection. Stagnation   – Your organisation is no longer brimming with creativity, and decision making is grinding to a halt. Headaches   – Your leadership team are tetchier than usual. Thus there is a tendency to leave them to it. Consequently, they no longer receive the intelligence needed to make strategic decisions and the staff feel they are on a rudderless boat. The causes Broadly the issue can be collectively considered as a lack of guts. Specifically, the guts to: Remove high performing, but culturally toxic staff. Demise grand vision projects that are clearly going nowhere. ‘Sack’ lucrative, but high maintenance clients. Turn off products and services that no longer have value in an increasingly chaotic world. Strip away processes, particularly those that stifle creativity. Take measured risks. Less a lack of guts, and more a lack of gut contents - A diversified gut biome is the basis for a healthy body. We still don’t really know its full contribution, but the evidence to date suggests that the link is critical to overall health and wellbeing. Organisationally, homogenous cultures are a precursor to poor organisational health. Treatment These include a mixture of invasive and non-invasive approaches: Stress management   will go a long way to avoiding this condition. However stress is unlikely to evaporate until the organisation feels confident that it can operate in what is an increasingly disruptive and disorienting environment. A healthy gut , as mentioned, will sidestep this issue. Please note, diversity is not an exercise in recreating something akin to a Benetton advert. Cognitive diversity is what we are seeking. Life experience variety, regardless of colour, gender or height, is as good a metric as any. Move   – Movement is a natural means of stimulating several of our internal systems. Organisationally, this means creating a sense of direction and then focusing the organisation on getting there. An inspiring vision will lift, and mobilise, the most curmudgeonly of spirits. Shock treatment   – There is no need to orchestrate this. The market has much to offer in this respect. Disruption is a natural and readily available laxative. Movement, particularly of the faint hearted / uncommitted, will follow. Routine   – Our bodies thrive on routines for many reasons, not least for the energetic benefits that the cultivation of habits affords us. The annual review is such an example. But as we all know, a year is a little too long when it comes to ‘purging’. Something closer to real-time makes more sense. Such reviews might well include clients, products/services and projects. Fibre –optics – Smooth and reliable communications across the organisation will ensure smooth decision making and will thus significantly decrease the likelihood of organisational stagnation.   Digital convenience In organisational circles, the topic du jour is typically more digital / AI focused. And perhaps there is a role for tech to play in respect of the above treatments. I am not holding my breath in respect of Harvard or INSEAD adding a ‘constipation module’ to their MBA syllabi. Nonetheless, I believe this represents a fundamental organisational challenge. One that will determine its future vitality and viability. I chose to tackle this socially awkward topic as it links very closely to one of   the eight key characteristics of a living, and thus intelligent system , namely ‘excretion’. I suspect a direct nod to this in the title might be a little too much for LinkedIn’s more censorious moderators. This article also appeared in the   Intelligent Organisation   newsletter on LinkedIn.

Check this out I’ve previously argued that organisations must behave more like living organisms if they are to thrive in an increasingly disruptive world. In this edition, I want to take that idea further and in a manner that can serve as a practical vitality checklist. Biologists, who know a thing or two about living systems, have a living systems checklist comprising eight characteristics. Let’s see how well organisations in general, ie those embracing industrial era principles, match the criteria. Well done! Traditional organisations score well in three areas: Metabolism -  Living organisms consume resources to grow, repair and stay in play Organisational metabolism takes the form of turning resources into market pleasing value. Traditional organisations are metabolically well-tuned. Perhaps overly so. Efficiency is an industrial god – zero waste is the creed. Such leanness is a problem when unexpected challenges or opportunities occur. Nature may value efficiency, but it prizes survival above all else. Traditional organisations, however, rarely treat survival as a core imperative—an approach that is anything but intelligent. Waste management-  Living organisms expel waste Again, organisations generally do this well. Though sometimes there are environmental consequences. Successful organisations shed obsolete practices. People who are not pulling their weight or willing to develop new skills are typically jettisoned. In some sectors it is difficult to move such people. This may be considered a form of corporate constipation. Some organisations jettison capable people because of age, gender, colour etc. This might be considered the extreme opposite of constipation. Neither are healthy. Growth -  Living organisms grow and mature Organisations typically follow a path that evolves from immaturity (start-up) and, if all goes well, after a period of growth they will settle into a mature state – a value stock, if publicly quoted. The extent to which they can navigate their environment in old age, survive the setbacks and provide value will determine for how long they can delay the inevitable. Not bad Traditional organisations are okay in these two areas: Structure  – Living organisms are not just a random collection of molecules Nature promotes a cellular structure. Living systems, particularly mammals, have billions of cells, the building blocks of life, all coordinating in real-time. Traditional organisations generally get the idea of modularity - functions, geographies, product lines, client sectors and so on. But these units are often clunkily pieced together in inflexible hierarchies, managed by a very centralised leadership approach. A more genuinely cellular approach requires significant decentralisation of governance. Thus enabling cells (people, teams, departments etc) to respond to threats and opportunities without delay. Reproduction -  Living organisms self-reproduce Smart organisations encourage spin offs. They anticipate staff who have entrepreneurial tendencies and provide them with the ecosystem to do their own thing with the organisation’s support. Sometimes the organisation will decouple a business unit because its growth is hampered by organisational constrictions. I believe that organisations will increasingly need to behave like venture capital / private equity firms in order to maintain a suitable level of business model diversity. This guards against a single point of existential business model failure. A reproduction variant for some organisations is the alumni network. This is not about the generation of offspring but the creation of new clients and suppliers. Perhaps this is more akin to livestock farming than reproduction. Oh dear Traditional organisations generally struggle in these three areas: Homeostasis  – Living organisms maintain internal stability despite external changes Leaders today will readily admit that they do not know how to cope with the increasing levels of disruption. They hope a playbook or a strategy paper with an action list from a top tier consulting firm will lead them out of what feels like a war zone. But these are likely to be ineffective. One of the reasons being that the culture and organisational design are optimised for a steady state environment. Thus the organisation simply (over) reacts to environmental anomalies and then quickly returns to its steady state posture. A good example is – AI is here. Let’s fire lots of people. AI is not all its cracked up to be. Let’s rehire those people. Responsiveness  – Living organisms are sensitive to their environment We need organisations to respond intelligently, ie. dance with disruption, rather than reacting arthritically. Such organisations need to be able to sense, decide and act in real-time. Traditional organisations respond well to changes in the steady state – the market wants more / less cars, etc. But they are less sensitive to novel situations, including the foreshocks that herald a forthcoming tsunami. Adaptiveness  – Living organisms sustain long-term homeostasis with the environment Adaptiveness is the organisation’s ability to stay aligned with its environment on an ongoing basis. This is less about ‘crossing the chasm’ every decade or so and more about transformation as an operating model.   Today. many organisations are running transformation projects. They realise that where they are today (A) is a problem and so they are working towards getting to an ideal state (B). Unfortunately thanks to increasing disruption B is now hyperactive. It just won’t sit still. The problem word here is ‘project’. The problem issue is that leaders do not understand that patching the old model / sprinkling it with tech is not enough. In fairness, Covid showed the latent capacity of businesses and governments to act quickly. But this ran counter to their operating model and so they have quietly reverted to the ‘steady as she goes’ sausage machine. So what we witnessed in reality was less adaptation and more ‘organisational convulsion’. School report summary A mean-spirited summary might score traditional organisations three out of eight. Pollyanna might score five out of eight (63%, a ‘B’) and conclude that traditional organisations have sufficiently embraced living systems. Thus allowing their leaders to channel their limited resources towards day-to-day operational headaches. Unfortunately, the three areas where traditional organisations struggle are the three characteristics critical to surviving in an increasingly chaotic world.   This article also appeared in the   Intelligent Organisation   newsletter on LinkedIn.

Here you will find content produced by Ade McCormack. It provides some insight into how his thinking has evolved. Archived content Here you will find articles and reports from over the years. In many respects this provides the background for where my thinking is today . The war for talent is now a war for intelligence Is your CEO top of your risk register? AI - Capability is not enough Disruption revisited Disruptive trends - What lies ahead in an unknowable world Intelligent business - It's more than a tech makeover Govzilla - - What if governments were intelligent? Taming complexity Do we need intelligent cities? 1 2 3 4

Ade McCormack helps leaders create intelligent organisations optimised to embrace disruption. Take a look at his forward thinking work on how organisations need to evolve. The Intelligent Organisation The Intelligent Organisation think tank explores how increasing disruption requires a new approach to how organisations are designed. This work underpins the services that I offer. Visit the Intelligent Organisation

This talent management workshop empowers leaders to make the connection between viability, disruption, innovation and talent. The real war for talent has only just begun. Strategic Talent Management Workshop Helping Irish tech leaders turn talent scarcity into competitive advantage Context Introduction Outcomes Details Benefits Next step Context Irish tech firms, like their global counterparts, face unprecedented disruption. Talent-related challenges, particularly in acquisition and retention, are becoming critical bottlenecks. Remote working has expanded access to talent but has also intensified the global war for it. Beneath this surface issue lies a deeper challenge: global disruption. Thus innovation is more important than ever. Yet most organisations are not structured to unlock the cognitive potential of their people. As a result, your best minds may be slipping away to more stimulating environments. Return to workshop menu Schedule a chat Introduction This workshop empowers leaders to unlock the full potential of their people, thus transforming disruption into competitive advantage. It moves beyond traditional talent management, helping you build an organisation designed for innovation, resilience, and human performance. Return to workshop menu Schedule a chat Outcomes Organisationally: You will be better equipped to win the war for talent. Your organisation will shift from extracting the ‘most’ from your people to enabling them to perform at their best. Leaders will approach talent management like elite sports teams, prioritising marginal gains and sustained performance. Disruption will no longer be feared but embraced as a strategic ally. Your leaders will be well positioned to build an organisation designed around human potential while delivering meaningful returns for all stakeholders. Participants will: Develop confidence in managing talent effectively. Gain a nuanced, real-time understanding of their organisational context Recognise the limitations of relying solely on process and efficiency. Become more agile and adaptive leaders, capable of navigating uncertainty. Return to workshop menu Schedule a chat Details Approach This classroom-based workshop includes: Knowledge transfer combined with facilitated discussion. Exploration of real-world case studies. Interactive exercises to embed key learning points. Structured and implementable action planning. Modules The following topics are covered: Disruption and its impact on organisational design. The real-time, intelligent organisation. The role of innovation. The cognitive gymnasium – How to attract and retain top-tier talent. Talent and technology. How to create a buffer against an uncertain future. Leading in complexity. Duration It can be delivered over a half day, a full day or two days. Target audience Your senior leadership team. Senior professionals with talent, technology and/or transformation responsibilities will also gain significant benefit. Customisation It can also be integrated with your broader leadership development initiatives. Return to workshop menu Schedule a chat Benefits This workshop: Shows the link between organisational viability, innovation and talent management. Shifts the emphasis from talent to innovation and cognition, recognising the role of technology. Encourages thinking in terms of paths to mastery rather than careers. Explains why traits often matter more than skills in the recruitment process. Rethinks the purpose of talent analytics. Promotes a more nuanced and effective approach to diversity. Makes the case for a more distributed leadership model. Embraces complexity by exploring how living systems engage with hostile environments. Enables leaders to identify and ‘plug the leaks’ that drain human potential drive attrition. Shows leaders how to create a culture and work environment that retains the top talent and builds a compelling employer brand. Return to workshop menu Schedule a chat Next step Schedule a chat