Most business authorities believe that Talent Management (TM) has emerged as an important global business challenge. In developed economies, employers anticipate many experienced workers to retire, creating a vacuum of talent that will not be easy to fill; in developing economies, talent needs are fueled by explosive business expansion and pending waves of retirements. Typically, TM has focused on attracting, developing and retaining talented people. But that is not enough for the future. Organizations will need next generation talent management.

Few business authorities question that Talent Management (TM) is a key global challenge (Goretsky and Pettry, 2007; Rowh, 2007; and Shadovitz, 2007). Indeed, "nearly three-quarters of the 413 US human resources professionals queried for the 2008 Top Five Total Rewards Priorities Survey, conducted by Deloitte Consulting and the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists (ISCEBS), cited talent as their top concern" (`Talent shortage,' 2008). In developed economies, TM commands attention due to aging workforce that is expected to retire at any moment. In developing economies, TM generates interest due to explosive business growth, aging workforce, and widespread hijacking of talent across national borders.

While TM is sometimes a term in search of a meaning, traditional talent management is usually understood to mean systematic efforts to recruit, develop and retain highly productive and promotable people (Rothwell and Kazanas, 2004). But the needs of businesses really go well beyond that. There is thus a need to think beyond traditional talent management to Next Generation Talent Management (NGTM).

All best practice approaches to talent management share a common element: they are guided by a strategic model that helps practitioners integrate, and communicate to stakeholders, how all the individual efforts fit together systematically. The NGTM goes beyond the mere consideration of identifying, developing and retaining productive and promotable people. It includes considering how the work is performed (which will change performance and promotability requirements), inventorying in-house experts (known as high professionals), considering ethics and values as well as performance, preparing for the transfer of specialized knowledge, and preparing for the transfer of social networks. The NGTM is often integrated with a career planning program in which individuals are challenged to clarify their future life/career goals and identify their own developmental needs to meet their career goals (Rothwell, Jackson, Knight, Lindholm, 2005).

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