India will soon face one of the fiercest battles for talent, according to top global expert on talent and leadership, Claudio Fernandez-Araoz, a senior adviser at Egon Zehnder. In an interview with Economic Times the author of 'It's Not the How or the What but the Who' and 'Great People Decisions', vouched for unparalleled optimism among the chief executives he met during his visit.  The following is an extract of the interview:

“About eight years ago, Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria and I did a global study on senior talent and interviewed CEOs of 50 of the largest global companies. We interviewed their human resource officers and found that a scary perspective was looming on the horizon. Three unprecedented forces were coming together to create the toughest battle for talent. I labelled these as the 'other GDP': globalisation, demographics and pipeline.

“About globalisation, we found that in the most attractive emerging markets, large multinationals were planning to double their resources and expected half their growth to come from emerging countries. This is why India is the second toughest market in the world to find enough qualified people, particularly senior talent. In my calculation, globalisation doubles the demand for talent.

“The second factor is demographics. India is one of the three large nations along with Brazil and Turkey to be blessed with a demographic dividend. But all developed nations, Europe and soon Russia and China, are facing a problem of ageing population and don't have enough young leaders.

“India is blessed with a demographic dividend, but the multinationals are running short of young leaders. My calculation is that the demand for the sweet spot of final development of talent from 35-44 years will also double. The final element is pipelines, the reserves of qualified successors. In a survey, we found that the level of the pipeline of qualified successors is the lowest we have seen in many years.

“If we are going to have such a scarcity of talent, the number one priority for board members and leaders of companies in India is not hiring, which they should do, but in defending whatever talent they already have. For that, the first step is to identify your high potentials. High potentials by definition will give the highest return on investment done on their development.

“Companies struggling with development of high potentials is a universal problem. There are four predictors of high potentials. The first trait is curiosity. High potentials remain curious throughout their whole life. The second is insight — the ability to connect the dots, separate the wheat from the chaff. The third element is engagement. High potentials also have a fourth characteristic — determination. They are resilient and do not crack under pressure. You have to assess each of these four indicators separately to spot your high potentials.