Managing Talent across Organizations

What do talented employees carry with them as they move across organizations? How portable are their expertise, resources, and performance? As organizations’ needs for talent grow and individuals’ career trajectories become increasingly diverse, these questions become more important. In this chapter, we draw from career-mobility research and develop a framework that considers the human capital, social capital, and identity issues in talent movement. We also provide implications for organizations as talent enters and exits an organization. In sum, we suggest that intake of talent per se does not necessarily lead to successful acquisition and utilization of the talent’s capital. Conversely, departure of talent does not mean an absolute loss to organizations—losing talent can potentially bring organizations unexpected gains, such as new social resources.