Becoming the change I wish to see in the world
‘Become the change you wish to see in the world’ is one of my favourite quotes. It has always kept me moving forward and in directions that weren’t always obvious or clear.
On March 18 th , 2019, on an Indonesian island called Wakatobi, I wrote in my diary that the swimlane I was meant to be in, wasn’t the one I was swimming in… one week later I resigned from my job.
What had changed in me was a realisation that what I was driving forward at that point professionally, wasn’t connected to my calling. I realised that no matter how far I could climb up any sort of corporate ladder, it was never going to fulfil me. I wasn’t solving the big disconnects and missed opportunities I recognised across talent acquisition practices.
Honestly I’d had these realisations before. What was different in that moment was that I realised I’d reached a point in my professional path, with so much technically, emotionally, professionally, and personally behind me, that now was the time to take that newly defined purpose, and become the change I wanted to see in the world. With that realisation it was like finally I could exhale. What I didn’t realise was that that exhale turned a spark, into a flame.
Why Talent Reimagined, why now?
Talent Reimagined is an organisation and community of experts connected by a passion to address the disconnects and gaps in talent acquisition. There is so much overlooked talent out there, so many opportunities lost due to outdated strategies and processes, but we’re working to create a better future for organisations and talent.
The recruiting system has let people down in a number of ways. It focuses on looking back, to move forward, looking in and then out, and focusing more on what people have done rather than can do. Despite the pace of change in society today and it’s transition to a knowledge based economy, the system is still relying on the internal turnover patterns to drive workforce planning, consuming technology without connecting it to process, people, purpose. It’s still building around or on top of processes because ‘it’s how we have always done it’.
Organisations need to throw away the operating manual for hiring, to be curious about what a new future in this space could be.
Only then can organisations truly become competitive. I don’t think there is a war for talent. Everyone can thrive in the right environment – it’s a patchwork quilt in some way. But what we want is to help accelerate organisations to a place where the hiring process helps them to find talent, and where talent can take all that is important to them, their whole self in whatever way that means to them, into the workplace.
We have always believed there is unlocked, untapped, overlooked talent out there. So when organisations can start to tune-in more to the outside, their talent strategy will genuinely become their competitive advantage. Resilience, savings, purpose – you don’t actually have to prioritise one over the other. It’s all possible – and more – once the right strategy is in place…That’s when organisations and talent can truly meet again. That’s what Talent Reimagined represents.
How is Talent Reimagined helping?
I created Talent Reimagined to accelerate change for clients, delivered by some of the best and most experienced independent minds across TA. We are a community of independent consultants, ready to apply what we know and have learnt from more than 50 different clients, across 70+ countries. We work together to innovate, disrupt, imagine new possibilities, to cut through complexity and build solutions that stick, scale and challenge the status quo.
In becoming the change, Talent Reimagined as a community represents what I believe is the future of the workplace; a microcosm of what I’d like to see: The right people, working purposefully, wherever they are in the world.
As I look back I realise the work I put into my career led me to a place now where I can make a difference for others, and it’s a very empowering, freeing feeling.
The work we do is with organisations, but the impact of our work reaches everyone.
This is us. This is the future. This is Talent Reimagined.
