Talent Intelligence Collective Podcast Episode 5 - the one with Lyndon Llanes from Verizon

The Talent Intelligence Collective Podcast 

The one with Lyndon Llanes from Verizon

Welcome to the 5th episode of the Talent Intelligence Collective Podcast! 

This is what Alan Walker - the editor and host of #Chat Talent had to say about the latest episode of the TIC Podcast.

Co-hosting we have me (Alan Walker) from Udder, Toby Culshaw from Amazon, Alison Ettridge from Talent Intuition and Nick Brooks from Microsoft.  And joining us for this episode we have the amazing Lyndon Llanes of Verizon.

After our introductions, Toby gave us his usual refresh on the happenings of the world of Talent Intelligence.

His first update revolved around a recent report by Deutsche Bank. Their research suggested working from home should be taxed to help support workers whose jobs are under threat.

Obviously, the report received some very mixed reviews, in general leaning towards the negative. With Lyndon correctly pointing out that there are no set of rules that decide who gets to work from home and who doesn’t. And how there are clear cost benefits regarding working from home, for both sides. While an employee doesn’t have to pay to commute, the company also does not have to pay for the upkeep of office space. So perhaps the tax should be split? Not just imposed on the employee?

A new mandate by the SEC, around human capital disclosure, sprouted the discussion – Are we going to see more investment from the company in Talent Intelligence? Due to business wanting to provide the SEC with numbers that are healthy and good?

While Lyndon and Nick both agreed the change that was long overdue, clean and usable data is still a very long way off. But I think Alison really highlighted the positive of this change:

‘I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS. I THINK THIS MANDATE IS GOING TO EXPOSE A WHOLE BUNCH OF ORGANISATIONS THAT JUST DON’T HAVE THIS TYPE OF DATA, NEVER MIND IT NOT BEING ACCURATE. THAT MEANS THERE IS GOING TO BE A DRIVE TO COLLECT DATA, WHICH IS AMAZING. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, THERE IS NOW A RECOGNITION THAT HUMAN CAPITAL IS THE REAL DRIVER OF VALUE WITHIN AN ORGANISATION. AND IT CAN NO LONGER BE IGNORED. WE ARE GOING TO SEE A MASSIVE RISE IN TALENT INTELLIGENCE.’

Toby continued with his worldly updates pivoting our discussion to the new Tesla Gigafactory (what a fun word!) and the NewYorkTimes opinion piece – The Human Experience Will Not Be Quantified.

‘I’VE QUITE A STRONG OPINION ABOUT THIS. DATA ALONE OR KNOWLEDGE ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE A DECISION. TAKE SMOKING FOR EXAMPLE. SIMPLY KNOWING THAT SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH ISN’T ALWAYS ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU STOP. YOU CANNOT SIMPLY LOOK AT DATA AND FIND YOUR ANSWER. THERE ARE ALWAYS OTHER THINGS INVOLVED.’ – LYNDON

I then opened the floor to our resident hard-hitting interviewer extraordinaires – Toby and Alison. Who were very much prepared with questions like: ‘How does Talent Intelligence and People Analytics blend?’ and ‘Do you have any words of advice for companies who are just starting out in the world of Talent Intelligence’.

Then, picking up on Lyndon’s taxonomy project within Verizon, Alison was eager to learn more. What was the driver for the idea? Was it ‘future of work’ or was it something that emerged from other discussions?

Passing the 1hour mark at this, I had to just jump in and bring our episode to a conclusion, as it was clear that we could talk to Lyndon forever.