The document discusses how to build leadership through talent transformation. It argues that great leaders are made, not born, and that talent transformation helps spot and nurture leadership competence by enabling competence and an environment for success across all touchpoints. The need is for responsible leadership that can transform talent in a scalable and sustainable manner. Key aspects of talent transformation discussed include listening, experience, attitude, delivery, execution, reputation, skills, humility, innovation, and developing a talent pipeline.

1. Building Leadership through
Talent Transformation
R.V.Balasubramaniam Iyer
India
1

2. Great Leaders are Made, not Born !
Every Person is Born with Talent
2

3. "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables by Susan Boyle
Britain’s Got Talent – Reality TV Show – April 11, 2009
Clay Aiken – American Idol
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

4. LEADERSHIP
Working with and through others
to achieve objectives.
Dr Paul Hershey, HBS.
(Cofounder, along with Ken Blanchard - Situational Leadership model)
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

5. Talent Transformation
Enabling Competence and Environment for
Success in a Scalable and Sustainable manner
across all Touch points
R. V. Bala Iyer
The need is for Responsible Leadership that can Transform Talent
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

6. Transforming Talent for Leadership
Listen
Experience
Attitude
Deliver
Execution
Reputation
Skilled
Humility
Innovation
Pipeline
Talent Transformation helps to Spot & Nurture LEADERSHIP Competence
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

7. L I S T E N to our Customers, Teams and Family.
“Ditch the Distractions or Drown in Them” – Dr Richard K Bomelje
www.listeningleaders.com
www.businesslistening.com
NavCenter (ASE) enables Leaders to Listen and Decide at DAVOS every year
Listening Helps Build Trust & Respect. Leaders can learn a lot if they Listen.
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

8. NavCenter / Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE)
Work is Accelerated by speeding up decision making using a
proven process and methodology, getting months of work done in
two to three days. It is speed and quality at the same time.
RACE helps create effective Solutions by developing plans that
are fully bought into by all the stakeholders and can be immediately
mobilized coming out of an meeting / session.
RACE is not a typical work Environment but is a creative
workspace that is technology enabled knowledge rich, flexible, fun
and can be designed and reconfigured real-time to facilitate the
work and priority.
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

9. President Barack Obama at the G20 Summit, London 2009
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

10. Create an Outstanding E X P E R I E N C E
“Use good judgment in all situations to do what is good for the customer and the company ” – Nordstrom
STAR Profiler / G.E.M.S (Go the Extra Mile Service) – benchmarks of Singapore Tourism
PRIDE – Privacy, Respect, Involvement, Dignity and Empathy – Walt Disney Institute
Assessment tools for Competency Assessment and spot TALENT – continuously
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

11. United Breaks Guitars – www.davecarrollmusic.com
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

12. ATTITUDE
Adopt the attitude of a student. Never be too big to ask questions or know too much to learn something new.
The Four Steps of the FiSH Philosophy!
Play
Make Their Day
Be There
Choose Your Attitude
FiSH! tells the remarkable wisdom of Seattle's World Famous Pike Place Fish Market.
In this incredible workplace, employees fill people - with fun, friendliness, attentiveness, and enthusiasm.
The work is hard, the hours long; yet these employees choose to bring amazing passion, fun and commitment to work.
This Seattle fish market is inspiring organizations worldwide to create fulfilled employees and delighted customers.
Hire for Attitude - Train for Skill / Knowledge
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

13. Southwest Airline Flight Attendant
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

14. Talented Leadership that D E L I V E R $
”God said, 'Let there be light' and there was light. The Electricity Board said He would have to wait until Thursday to be connected."
 Ceremonial (Serious, task only) to Liberated (Active directors) or even Progressive (Fun and Team of Directors), Boards.
 The Triple Bottom Line Framework – To measure Economic, Social and Environmental parameters
 Talented employees are looking for companies with clear Values and a sense of purpose beyond profit
 Measuring, Rewarding & Reporting – transparently, the coherence between policy and practice
 Undertake Peer Group Learning / Always Sharing Knowledge (ASK)
 Fostering and building a collaborative culture of Creativity and independent thought
 The need to regain Trust of Stakeholders in the Boards that Deliver, Ethically.
 Ensuring that “The buck stops at the board”
Build Leadership Talent that can transition boards from Ceremonial to Progressive or Liberated
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

15. Flawless A T I C N
I N N O VE X E O U T I O N
“Great things are executed by talented people who believe they will accomplish them” – Albert Einstein
EXECUTION companies employ four distinct approaches to day-to-day work:
Use the best available knowledge (which is understood to be a moving target)
Encourage employee collaboration by making information available
Routinely capture data on processes to discover how work really happens.
Finally, they study these data in an effort to find ways to improve execution.
Taken together, these practices form the basis of a learning infrastructure that makes continual
learning a part of culture, without penalizing anyone who asks for help or makes a mistake.
Tigers of Fortune (TOF) integrated over 60 bottling companies into one – Coca-Cola India
Enabling Talent Transformation has to be Simple, Scalable and Sustainable
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

16. EXECUTION that was measured & rewarded
The Inter-Bottling
Units Incentive
Program.
The Sales Teams The Trade Partner
Incentive Programs. Incentive Programs.
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

17. The Honda Advertisement – A Rube Goldberg Machine
A Rube Goldberg machine is a deliberately over engineered machine that executes a very simple task in a very complex fashion,
usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg.
Since then, the expression has expanded to denote any form of overly confusing or complicated system.
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

18. REPUTATION
“Back in the day, a pair of tight jeans was enough to earn a girl a bad reputation. Now slutty has gone Main Street”
Linda Chavez, Reagen Admin.
The set of six criteria used to gauge Corporate Reputation :
Emotional appeal: We simply like, admire and respect, or trust the company
Products and Services: We think the company sells products or services that
are high quality, innovative, reliable or good value for money
Social Responsibility: We think the company is a good citizen – it supports
good causes, doesn’t damage the environment, and does right by local
communities
Workplace Environment: We believe the company is well managed, has
topnotch employees, and would be great to work for
Vision and Leadership: We feel the company has a clear vision for the future
and strong leadership
Charles Fombrun Financial Performance: We are happy with the company’s profitability, believe
Chairman and Co-Founder it has strong future prospects, and isn’t too risky to invest in
The Reputation Institute
www.reputationinstitute.com/index
Corporate - Academic – Social win-win partnerships
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

19. S K I L L E D for role and beyond.
“Leadership is not every body's job. It is a highly skilled vocation.” - George Bernard Shaw
 Collaborative learning efforts between individual, corporate vendors, academia and employers
 Vocational Standards that are desired and recognized by governments, corporate as Certification
 Physical and Electronic Job Aids that enable workforce performance – in a dynamic environment
 iPromise / Consumer Workshops as a method of testing associate competence
 Buying / Decision Making Guides that serve customer needs better
 Pay for Competence and Results as against Pay for Educational Degrees
Learning Lounge” initiative using social web 3.0 in partnership with vendors – Best Buy Inc.
Familiarity with Blended Environment - Social & Virtual (Web 3.0) Networking
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

20. Learning Lounge & The Social Web
 Open Learning Spaces (not mandatory)
 Community of generic interests
 Profile-centric Learning Spaces
 Community of employees of similar job profile
 Content-centric Learning Spaces
 Employees interested in same/similar content
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

21. HUMILITY
“There's a tremendously fine line between being supremely confident and having an out-of-control ego”
 Humility is an act of courtesy ! The heavier the head of rice, the deeper it bows” – Japanese saying
 Humility does not call for us to be meek or lower our stature, but is quite the contrary
 The greater our Humility, greater is our fascination with the world around us
 Acts of Humility in Spiritual Parables
 Acts of Selfless leadership by Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi
 Humble profiles that leave a legacy behind like J R D Tata, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffet
Grahak Devo Bhava – the customer service philosophy – Mahatma K Gandhi
Effective Learning takes place in a humble, non threatening environment
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

22. Grahak Devo Bhava
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

23. INNOVATION
“A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 Creative / Learning (from experience) Culture
 Deep understanding of Customer and Employees
 Core Market (Share) Focus
Innovative Products, Global Launches, Keynote Presentations, In Store Demos / Test Drives , Genius Bars and ASTO
The need to innovate and engage the learner. methodology and trainer - constantly
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

24. IBM’s INNOVATION MAN
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

25. Talent P I P E L I N E & Succession Planning
“Talent is God given. Be humble.
Fame is man-given. Be grateful.
Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”
– John Wooden
Build a solid foundation linked to the strategic business goals, not simply volume fulfillment.
Rapid progression - forward momentum to keep the younger talent around for the planned succession.
Formalize and publicize- should be apparent to high-potentials and rigorous enough to meet future needs.
Develop leaders through assignments - look for ways to stretch and development potential talent.
Create a dynamic knowledge management system: Capture and transfer intellectual assets from retirees.
SMU : Responsible Corporate –Academic Partnership to develop a “Self – Corp - University” partnership
Lifelong Learning - to be encouraged by family and corporate
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

26. Earn while you Learn + Talent Engagement + Social Responsibility
1. Undergraduates hired with minimum workplace competence as associates
2. Associates enabled to complete education while at workplace
3. Credit system provides 30% weight age to workplace learning application
4. Company career opportunities for internal growth for fast track learners
5. Product and Process competence continuously enhanced, in parallel
6. Social Networking tools – to establish expertise and brand of individual
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

27. . . . .In SUMMARY
 LISTENING to our people can greatly enhance our economic and social wealth (and results)
 EXPERIENCE is what will motivate and retain our customers and employees
 ATTITUDE cannot be taught. Knowledge and Skill can. Spot Attitude. Train the rest. Nurture the Talent.
 DELIVER economic, social and environmental results in a transparent and ethical manner
 EXECUTION skills and ability to “inspect what we expect” will transform Talent effectively
 REPUTATION that we build will far exceed any revenue goals we surpass and stay beyond our times
 SKILLED workforce on the social web are now a force to reckon with
 HUMILITY to serve our colleagues and customers is a welcome competence
 INNOVATION in Transforming Talent and demonstrating Leadership will create abundance
 PIPELINE of Talent needs to be scaled and sustained for individual, social and corporate Leadership
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

28. The Akshayapatra Foundation – www.akshayapatra.org
rvbalaiyer@gmail.com Learning World, 2010 Hong Kong, February 26 2010

29. Building Leadership through Talent Transformation
R.V.Balasubramaniam Iyer
India
29