It is always interesting what comes out of this huge gathering of very influential politicians and business leaders at the World Economic Forum. As in 2000, one session contained the word talent in the title. This year that title was “The Global Talent Tap”. Perhaps the theme didn't evolve from the “War for Talent” of the 2000 forum, as The Global Chief Executive Officer of PricewaterhouseCoopers, USA, noted that in his 30 years of experience, he has never seen such an incredible shortage of, or demand for, talented people.

But Talent Management is a multifaceted concept that applies most meaningfully according to who and where you are. If you are the CEO of Infosys in India that needs to recruit 20,000 people and go through 1.4 million applications, it is a number game. If you are a company in need of creative innovation in order to grow, it is a qualitative game. But all will agree with Elaine L. Chao, US Secretary of Labor who said this in a session on the jobs of the future: "The greatest challenge is investment in human capital."

But there is always a big paradox here, as highlighted by Herminia Ibarra from INSEAD: "In the 1990s, companies claimed to be investing heavily in human capital, but as soon as there was a downturn, these budgets got slashed. So, is there something different going on now?"

I believe that there is something different going on now, and this something is called visibility of financial impact of human capital investment. This is exactly what I have been invited to speak about at the Conference Board event in New York next week, see you there!