Talent Policy: Problems and Solutions

Abstract

The identification and development of talent have long been a central target of policy making in various domains, including education, sports, the arts and business. Given the importance of talent for success in a competitive global market, governments and businesses across the globe continually devise strategic policies to identify, attract and preserve both national and international talent. Most of these talent-related practices and policies (implicitly) assume that a person's talent is predetermined and fixed, that it is readily identifiable and that effective talent development requires early identification and specific, targeted training. However, these assumptions are problematically unsupported by recent empirical and conceptual scientific research. Instead, the research shows that talent development is dynamic and context-dependent, and that early identification is an unreliable predictor of future performance. We outline the conceptual ambiguity and empirical flaws involved in current talent-related practices and propose three specific solutions to improve policy.