What If Talent Strategy Is Your Business Strategy?
Let’s pause for a second and ask a question that doesn’t get asked often enough: What would change in your organization if you treated talent as your core business strategy?
Not a support function. Not a downstream initiative. THE strategy.
I’ve asked this in boardrooms, offsites, and conference keynotes. And every time, the silence that follows is louder than the answers. Because deep down, most leaders know: if we really led this way, a lot would look different.
And here’s the thing—the data backs that instinct up.
Companies that align talent strategy with business strategy are 6x more likely to report higher total returns to shareholders. (McKinsey & Co.)
So what would actually change?
You’d stop managing performance and start predicting potential.
Instead of hiring and promoting based on past performance alone, you'd start looking for agility, coachability, and alignment with the company’s mission. Talent velocity—not tenure—would become your metric. You’d know who’s ready now and who will be ready in 12 months. Currently, 63% of HR leaders say their company has no clear succession plan for critical roles. (Gartner) This means that most organizations are flying blind when it comes to future leadership.
You’d take culture seriously—and stop leaving it to chance
If talent is strategic, culture becomes a design choice, not an afterthought. You’d build an environment that keeps top talent—not just attracts it. Retention would be a leadership priority, not an HR fire drill. That shift matters—70% of employees say they’d leave a company without clear growth opportunities.
(LinkedIn Learning)You’d stop waiting for a crisis to invest in people.
You’d stop treating leadership development and skill-building as a luxury and start seeing them as risk management. You’d build pipelines and benches—before you needed them. According to DDI, only 11% of companies feel confident in their leadership bench. The rest? Hoping someone steps up when it counts.
You’d start growing your future talent—internally.
Hiring externally has its place, but when you treat talent as your strategy, internal mobility becomes the growth engine. You invest in stretch assignments. You promote before people are “fully ready.” You make potential part of the plan. Companies that excel in internal mobility retain employees for nearly twice as long. (LinkedIn, 2023)
And maybe most importantly—HR would stop reacting and start leading.
Because when talent is the strategy, HR isn’t just a support function. It becomes the most forward-looking part of the business. In fact, companies with strong talent management practices outperform peers by 2.2x in financial performance. (BCG)
So, I’ll ask again: What would change in your organization if you truly treated talent as your strategy?
And maybe the better question is… What happens if you don’t?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Lupinacci spent the last 25 years at some of the world's best-known companies, such as Intel Corporation and Kimberly-Clark. His career spans key executive roles such as Chief Learning Officer, Chief Talent Officer, and Chief Integration Officer. After a successful corporate career, Jeff turned his focus to his true passion—serving the overworked and under-resourced HR profession.
Beyond his corporate success, Jeff is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, with his insights featured in leading publications such as CFO Europe, Nikkei Business Magazine, and Baylor Business Review. In addition to his business leadership, Jeff is an adjunct professor at Baylor University, where he teaches Human Capital Management for the Executive MBA program and leads the HR Strategy and Analytics capstone for undergraduates.
Jeff is the best-selling author of The Talent Advantage: A CEO’s Journey to Discover the Value of Talent. He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife and two doodles.