Measures Must Support “Talentship,”

Measures Must Support “Talentship,” a Decision Science for Talent
There are at least three markets that firms must compete within in order to be
successful: capital market, the customer/product market and the talent market. Each of these
markets has a wealth of measures associated with them. However, in each of the other
markets, there is a clear distinction between the professional practices associated with the
market and the decision science that supports it. Within the capital markets, the practices of
accounting are supported by the decision science tools of finance. Likewise, the professional
practice of sales is augmented and supported with the decision science of marketing. As we
have noted (Boudreau & Ramstad, in press; 2002), HR has a rich set of professional practices,
but lacks a decision science. We have proposed that now is the right time for such a science to
emerge, and we have called that science, “Talentship”.