Leadership and the Portability Myth: Research and Implications on Talent Portability.

Many organizations seem to conduct talent management and succession planning based on the assumption that star talent and solid leadership can be acquired as needed. Research into the portability of talent implies that it cannot be. This paper examines the research on the portability of talent and leadership skills and concludes that overreliance on recruiting outside stars can lead to disaster and that succession planning must be less reactionary and more integrated into the broader processes of developing the firm's strategy and determining the skills the top executives will need in order to execute that strategy. Strategies for leveraging this research are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]