The Need for Talent: The Origins of Talent Management in Business and Sports

Talent management as a scientific discipline and consultant practice within business and sports has existed for more than 15 years, but there still seems to be some confusion about what the meaning of ‘talent management’ really is. Despite several attempts to clarify the meaning of talent management, a rigid definition has not yet been reached. Instead of this search for a rigid definition, it would be more beneficial for our understanding of talent management if we first understood the rationale and principles behind it. In this chapter, I will historically describe how the rationale and principles for management within business and sports, from industrialism, through modernity, to late modernity, have changed and led to this new management discipline, talent management. With this historical understanding of the rationale and principles of talent management, we will not only be able to gain a better understanding of the intention of talent management, and maybe get closer to its real meaning, but will also be able to compare the rationale and principles with those of the talent management we found in the Gospel of Matthew. This comparison will enable us to determine whether there is any resemblance between modern talent management and the talent management conducted in the Parable of Talent as described in the Gospel of Matthew.