
CHAPTER 5
S
TARTING
O
UT
The Talent Focus Decision
The most dangerous strategy is to
jump a chasm in two leaps.
—B
ENJAMIN
D
ISRAELI
The Talent Focus Decision, otherwise known as the Make/B uy de-
cision, d eals with the question of whether you should rely primarily
on the use of internal devel opmen t (Make) or external replace-
ment (Buy) to st rengthen your lea dersh ip bench. This decision is
summarized in Figure 5-1. As I’ll discu ss at length in this chapter,
while all organizati ons make some use of both appro aches , the
attempt t o stra ddle these strate gies and do ‘‘some of both’’ is likely
to s imply diffu se your reso urces and se nd confusing mess ...