英语9

The Tussle1 for Talent

（2011.1.6 The Economist）[432 words]

Plato believed that men are divided into three classes:

gold, silver and bronze. Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian

economist, argued that “the vital2 few”account for most

progress. Such sentiments are taboo today in public life.

Politicians talk of a “leadership class”or “the vital few”at

their peril3. Schools abhor4 picking winners. Universities

welcome the masses: more people now teach at British ones than attended them in the 1950s.

In the private sector5 things could hardly be more different. The world’s best companies struggle relentlessly6 to find and keep the vital few. They offer them fat pay packets, extra training, powerful mentors7 and more challenging assignments. If anything, businesses are becoming more obsessed with ability.

This is partly cyclical8. Deloitte and other consultancies have noticed that as the economy begins to recover, companies are trying harder to nurture raw talent, or to poach9 it from their rivals. When new opportunities arise, they hope to have the brainpower to seize them. The acceleration of the tussle for talent is also structural, however. Private-equity firms rely heavily on a few stars. High-tech firms, for all their sartorial10 egalitarianism11, are ruthless12 about recruiting the brightest. Firms in emerging markets are desperate to find high-flyer13s— the younger the better— who can cope with rapid growth and fast-changing environments.

Successful companies make sure that senior managers are involved with “talent

d evelopment”. Jack Welch and A.G. Lafley, former bosses of GE and P&G, claimed that they spent 40% of their tim

e on personnel. Andy Grove, who ran Intel, a chipmaker14, obliged all the senior people, including himself, to spend at least a week a year teaching high-flyers. Nitin Paranjpe, the boss o

f Hindustan Unilever, recruits people from campuses and regularly visits high-flyers in their offices. Involvin

g the company’s top brass15 in the process prevents lower-level managers from monopolising16 high-flyers (and taking credit for their triumphs). It also creates a dialogue between established and future leaders.

Successful companies also integrate talent development with their broader strategy. This ensures that companies are more than the sum of their parts. Adrian Dillon, a former chief financial officer of Agilent, a firm that makes high-tech measuring devices, says he would rather build a “repertory17 company” than a “collection of world experts”. P&G likes its managers to be both innovative and worldly: they cannot rise to the top without running operations in a country and managing a product globally. Agilent and Novartis like to turn specialists into general managers. Goodyear replaced 23 of its 24 senior managers in two years as it shifted from selling tyres to carmakers to selling them to motorists.

1.tussle /t?sl/ n.扭打；争论；争斗；奋斗

2.vita l /?va?tl/ adj.生命的；充满活力的；生死攸关的；极其重要的

3.peril /?per?l/ n. 严重危险；祸害，险情

4.abhor /?b?h??/ vt. 痛恨，憎恶

5.sector /?sekt?/ n.[数]扇形；两脚规；部分；部门

6.relentlessly /r??lentl?sl?/ adv. 残酷地，无情地；不停地，不减弱地

7.mentor /?men?t??/ n.私人教师，辅导教师；良师益友

8.cyclical /?sa?kl?kl/ adj. 周期的，循环的

9.poach /p??t?/ vt. 水煮；偷猎；盗用，挖走（人员）

10.sartorial /sɑ??t??r??l/ adj. 服装的，男装的，衣着的

11.egalitarianism /??ɡ?l??te?r??n?z?m/ n. 平等主义，平均主义

12. ruthless /?ru?θl?s/ adj. 无情的，冷酷的; 残忍的

13.high-flyer /?ha?fla??/n.抱负极高的人；有野心的人

14.chipmaker /?t??p?me?k?/ n. 集成块制造者；半导体(元件)制造商

15.top brass 要员

16.monopolise /m??n?p?la?z/ vt. 垄断，独占；占去（大部分时间、精力），霸占

17.repertory /?rep?tr?/ n. 保留剧目轮演