The Rare Find: How Great Talent Stands Out

by George Anders

Overview

Anyone who recruits talent faces the same basic challenge, whether we work for a big company, a new start-up, a Hollywood studio, a hospital, or the Green Berets. We all wonder how to tell the really outstanding prospects from the ones who look great on paper but then fail on the job. Or, equally important, how to spot the ones who don’t look so good on paper but might still deliver extraordinary performance. In a tough economy, it’s more important than ever to make every talent decision count.

George Anders sought out the world’s savviest talent judges to see what they do differently from the rest of us. He reveals how the U.S. Army finds soldiers with the character to be in Special Forces without asking them to fire a single bullet. He takes us to an elite basketball tournament where the best scouts are watching the players who don’t have the ball. He talks to researchers who are reinventing the process of hiring Fortune 500 CEOs.

Anders reveals powerful ideas you can apply to your own hiring. And in a new chapter for the paperback, “Becoming a Rare Find,” he explains how to flip these strategies and make sure your talent isn’t missed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591845621
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/25/2012
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

George Anders is a contributing writer at Forbes, where he writes about management, talent and innovation. He spent two decades as a top feature writer for The Wall Street Journal, where he was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. He also has written for Fast Company, Bloomberg View, Parade, and Harvard Business Review. He is the author of three previous books, including the New York Times bestseller Perfect Enough, an account of upheaval at Hewlett-Packard. He lives in northern California with his wife and two children.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Sand, Sweat-and Character 15

2 The Talent Problem 37

3 Decoding the Jagged Résumé 59

4 Where Insights Are Born 81

5 Auditions That Work 100

6 Talent That Whispers 121

7 What Can Go Right? 139

8 Lottery Tickets 159

9 Talent That Shouts 180

10 When to Say No 199

11 Picking the Boss 218

12 Fitting the Pieces Together 235

13 Becoming a Rare Find 248

Notes 274

Acknowledgments 289

Index 291

Editorial Reviews

George Anders is himself a rare find. A superb writer, he brings piercing intellect and persistent curiosity to examine the single most important leadership skill: finding and picking the right people. By turning his own talent upon this vital and elusive question, Anders has done a great service.”

—Jim Collins, author of How the Mighty Fall and Good to Great

 

“How do you find brilliant performers? The first step is to read this remarkable, groundbreaking, profoundly useful book—which is not so much a book as a detailed map of the newly revealed landscape of modern talent hunting. Quite simply, the best book on the subject I’ve ever read.”

—Daniel Coyle, author of The Talent Code

 

“George Anders combines deep reporting, vivid storytelling, and keen analysis to help unravel the mysteries of talent. Whether you’re running a large organization or managing a small team, The Rare Find is that rare book—a must-read.”

—Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind

 

“George Anders finds the deep truth about choosing people right. You’ll never make these supremely important decisions the same way again.”

—Geoff Colvin, author of Talent Is Overrated

 

“Resilience, curiosity, and self-reliance are strengths that don’t show up in HR hiring manuals. In The Rare Find, George Anders shows that they lead to fresh ways to hunt for talent. More power to him for daring to advocate that which is not obvious.”

—Andrew S. Grove, former chairman and CEO of Intel Corporation and author of Only the Paranoid Survive

 

“Well researched, useful, and entertaining . . . The book not only shows how to find and hire top talent, it also provides valuable advice for anyone looking to enhance his or her own performance.”

—Steven N. Kaplan, Neubauer Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

From the Publisher