Despite the false promises to the contrary, AI will not replace people for critical tasks in the near future and talent will be required.

Why?

This should be no surprise since one of the biggest barriers to success is the talent gap and one of the largest risks is the loss of the critical talent the organization has. As a result, an organization worried about its future should be very concerned about its ability to identify, acquire, and retain top talent.

Impact Potential

The potential impact of being unable to attract and upskill top talent ranges from

• inefficiency: when unskilled sub-par talent take longer to get work done and do it more poorly
• inaccuracy: in analysis and resulting decisions along with process and tech selection
• inability: to manage categories, design new products, mange contracts and commitments
• inaccessibility: to key suppliers, tenders, markets, channels, etc. if there is no one that knows how to manage them, speak the language, follow the rules, etc.
• incohesiveness: as a lack of leadership and/or competence causes teams to fall apart

In summary, a lack of capable Talent can cripple an organization!

Major Challenges/Risks

• lack of skilled talent: in many STEM (related) areas, there is a lack of skilled talent in the market due to lack of graduates, and even a lack of an appropriate student talent pool (as the US is 19^th in the OECD rankings for adaptive problem solving and 25^th in the OECD ranking for numeracy overall. (See our recent post.) That’s the good news. In the 2022 PISA test, the US ranked 34^th out of 81 countries. When it comes to advanced math levels in the student population, some tests put the percentage of US students at a mere 7% compared to 30% of students in Singapore. Even back office jobs which are now analytics focussed and data dependent require advanced numeracy and problem solving skills.
• lack of experienced candidates: with every recession, market instability, purported technological advancement, etc., companies slash headcount to preserve cash and the first to go are the experienced talent; then, when they hire, they hire cheap inexperienced graduates — with no one left to train them appropriately
• lack of leadership: leadership requires people who have been there, done that with leadership skills — the more been there, done that that are retired, and the less that are properly trained, the less there are

Final Words

In summary, there’s a lack of talent across the board and you’re competing with everyone else. A talent war is coming, and it’s not one any organization is guaranteed to win.