A large part of this profitable growth was due to the rigor placed on their talent development processes directly from the CEO.  

Even in the early years of his tenure while having to cut expenses in many areas, Jack Welch invested heavily in expanding GE’s talent development programs. Many of these philosophies, tactics, and tools can be used by contractors:

• Differentiation is critical for attracting, retaining and developing top talent.  
• Put a great business leader such as Bill Conaty in charge of talent giving them an equal seat on the executive team.
• Use tools similar to the “GE Workout” to stretch your team and develop their leadership capabilities. 
• Other tools used by Jack Welch are included in The GE Way Fieldbook. 
• Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan discuss some of the talent processes including a scorecard and providing feedback in Execution. 

Talent development is difficult and requires making some very tough decisions. It is the contractors that build robust talent processes today that will dominate tomorrow.