Book Reviews on Talents

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(1) David A Shaywitz,  Desperately Seeking Talent; Employers worry more about the effects of a bad hire than about the problems of hiring someone who is competent but not exceptional..Wall Street Journal, Oct 19, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 65153116078830.html
(book review on George Anders, The Rare Find; Exploiting exceptional talent before everyone else. Portfolio, 2011)

Quote:

"Many of the exemplars the author cites may also warrant more critical evaluation. What's the evidence that these organizations are unusually skillful in discerning talent? True, Facebook, Teach for America and the Special Forces are renowned, but it's unclear whether they gained their vaunted reputations because of or in spite of their idiosyncratic approaches to recruiting and admission.

"In many cases, it's precisely the potential of exceptionally talented applicants to disrupt an organization that prevents their hiring—even when such disruption is precisely what a company might need.

Note:
(a) JK Rowling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling
(Joanne "Jo" Rowling; 1965- ; better known as J. K. Rowling)
(b)  Mariano Rivera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Rivera
(1969- ; Yankees 1995-  )
(c) Special Forces (United States Army)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Forces_(United_States_Army)
(also known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear)
(d) David C Evans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_C._Evans
(1924-1998)

The reviw said, "His [David Evans'] early recruits included John Warnock, who went on to co-found Adobe Systems, Ed Catmull (co-founder of Pixar) and Jim Clark (founder of Netscape)." It is clear that Mr Evans recruited them as GRADUATE STUDENTS, not faculty. See (e) to (g) following.

(e) John Warnock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Warnock
(Warnock has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Philosophy, a Master of Science in Mathematics, a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (Computer Science), and an honorary degree in Science, all from the University of Utah; co-founded Adobe in 1982)
(f) Edwin Catmull
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Catmull
(1945- ; in 1986, Steve Jobs bought Lucasfilm's digital division and founded Pixar, where Catmull became the Chief Technical Officer; current president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios)

He is not a "co-founder" of Pixar.

See also
* Pixar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar
(Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm before it was acquired by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1986. The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion; the transaction made Jobs the largest shareholder in Disney.)
* Alexander Schure
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Schure
(1920-2009; fouonded New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) [at New York City] in 1955; In November, 1974, Schure hired recent University of Utah doctoral graduate Edwin Catmull [who had graduated with PhD from Univ of Utah that year] to direct NYIT's fledgling computer graphics lab)

(g) For James H Clark (1944- ), see Netscape
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape
(PhD in computer science from the University of Utah in 1974; In 1982, Jim Clark along with several Stanford graduate students founded Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI); Netscape was originally founded under the name, Mosaic Communications Corporation, on April 4, 1994, the brainchild of Jim Clark who had recruited Marc Andreessen as co-founder)
(h)
* Louis V Gerstner, Jr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_V._Gerstner,_Jr.
(1942- ; chairman of the board and chief executive officer of IBM 1993-2002; He is largely credited with turning around IBM's fortunes)
* Louis V Gerstner, Jr  CEO 1993 - 2002. IBM, undated (Press room> Biographies)
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/biography/10153.wss
("Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Gerstner served for four years as chairman and chief executive officer of RJR Nabisco, Inc. This was preceded by an 11-year career at American Express Company, where he was president of the parent company and chairman and CEO of its largest subsidiary, American Express Travel Related Services Company. Prior to that, Mr. Gerstner was a director of the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Co., Inc., which he joined in 1965.")

(i) Albertsons (SuperValu)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertsons_(SuperValu)

Quote:

"Albertsons (officially New Albertsons, Inc.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based SuperValu, is a supermarket retailer that operates 463 grocery stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Louisiana, Nevada, Southern California, Florida and certain parts of Utah. Supermarket News ranked parent company SuperValu number five in the 2007 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers".

"Albertsons was founded by Joe Albertson in 1939 in Boise, Idaho.

"On January 23, 2006, SuperValu, CVS Corporation, and an investment group led by Cerberus Capital Management announced they had agreed to acquire Albertsons for $17.4 billion in cash, stock and debt assumption. [Albertsons' stores were divided among the three.; those taken by Supervalue formed New Albertsons, Inc, described in quotation 1]

(j) The review mentioned "facility with spreadsheets."

facility (n): "ease in performance : APTITUDE"
www.m-w.com


(2) Alan Murray, Supervising Success; Among the key ingredients of good management: constant evaluation and candor. Wall Street Journal, Dec 8, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 04513620811494.html
(book review on Bill Conaty and Ram Charan, The Talent Masters; Why smart leaders put people before numbers. Crown Business, 2010)

Note:
(a) Robert Nardelli (1948- ; chairman and CEO of Chrysler, 2007-2009; chairman and CEO of The Home Depot 2000-2007; one of the top four executives at General Electric before that; CNBC named Nardelli as one of the "Worst American CEOs of All Time")
(b) Jim McNerney (1949- ; chairman, president and CEO of Boeing 2005- )
(c) It appears that the question mark "?" is a typo for dash "-".
(d) Eaton Corporation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eaton_Corporation
(In 1911 Joseph O. Eaton co-founded a predecessor the the corporation--a public company headquartered in Cleveland)