The Talent War

How Special Operations and Great Organizations Win on Talent

By: Mike Sarraille, George Randle, Josh Cotton

Narrated by: Mike Sarraille, George Randle, Jocko Willink - foreword

Foreword written by New York Times best-selling author and retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink.

A must-listen for any business leader looking to build elite teams and win on talent.

Talent is the foundation of every success story from Silicon Valley to Wall Street to Main Street, and even on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's the hidden asset that never shows up on the balance sheet, despite being the driver for a company's true value. And now, in this hypercompetitive business environment, the war for talent has never been more important or more complex. Of 800 CEOs and 600 C-suite executives polled in 2019, the overwhelming majority cited the ability to attract and retain top talent as their number one concern.

For your organization to win, you need to attract and retain the best talent. But without the right strategy or mindset, you won't be able to do so - and you won't be able to compete. After all, your people, not your product or service, are your strongest competitive advantage.

When it comes to winning on talent, no one does it better or more consistently than the US Special Operations community. Their success comes down to their people and a widely held foundational belief: Talent + Leadership = Victory.

The Talent War explores how US Special Operations Forces assess, select, and develop their world-class talent. You'll learn how to adopt a talent mindset, the single greatest weapon you can possess in the war for talent. When your organization reflects this mindset, you will hire, train, and develop the right people and put them in the best positions to make decisions that allow you to retake the advantage and win the war.

©2020 Mike Sarraille and George Randle (P)2020 Mike Sarraille and George Randle

excellent guide book for hiring

as the managing partner of a company which largely recruits directly from colleges and rarely hires experienced candidates, the concepts and characteristics of candidates outlined in this book were perfectly suited to our organization.

So timely - So Important - All Leaders Should Read This

Having lived the military life the authors speak about, then transitioned to a well-known multi-national bank - this is the most accurate depiction of the current state of talent selection and its vital importance to business to date.

It is also the most poignant set of solutions “out there” to actually address the issue of talent in companies, today. This book concisely illuminates the systemic problem AND gives easily adaptable solutions that can be realistically acted on to do something about it!

I promise you will think very differently when you read this book.

Really well done, a must read for...

This should be required reading for anyone in a position of leadship, management or in human resources. Corporate America is hiring too many employees by computer, checking all the right boxes or actually all the wrong boxes. Read the book and you'll soon see why you can't find or keep the best talent out there.

Great book!

As one of the leaders of a performance oriented non-profit that seeks change related to performance and skill and not just grants and dollars this book will prove invaluable to developing a better look at great strategic partnerships as well as keeping our eye on the right processes for new hires! Loved it and have already recommended it to several business CEO’s and CTO’s. It will be required reading/ listening for our leadership program.

John J
President-Hispanic Restaurant Association

Great guidance

So many takeaways.

Leatdership - humility is key.

Recruits - look for talent and character above skills.

This was a master class in taking care of the most important element of any company, the humans.

Excellent

Excellent listen. Great content by great authors. Will be recommending to other team members and will re-listen to re-educate myself over time. Must read/listen

Great for hiring.

I would recommend this book having a large or small company in which you have employees. It will save you time and money hiring the “right” people. Worth the read.

Look beyond your industry for ideas and practice to improve.

Mike and George do a great job making the talent practices of special operations available in a way to improve your process!

great leadership advice

excellent book on the importance of leadership & why develop talent after you acquire it!

Excellent

Relentless obsession on the basics creates progress. The authors laid out the basic tenets of talent acquisition and development. This book is definitely worth owning in hardcopy to study in order to develop in the mindset necessary to set up any company for a bright future.