The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age

by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, Chris Yeh

Overview

The New York Times Bestelling guide for managers and executives.

Introducing the new, realistic loyalty pact between employer and employee.

The employer-employee relationship is broken, and managers face a seemingly impossible dilemma: the old model of guaranteed long-term employment no longer works in a business environment defined by continuous change, but neither does a system in which every employee acts like a free agent.

The solution? Stop thinking of employees as either family or as free agents. Think of them instead as allies.

As a manager you want your employees to help transform the company for the future. And your employees want the company to help transform their careers for the long term. But this win-win scenario will happen only if both sides trust each other enough to commit to mutual investment and mutual benefit. Sadly, trust in the business world is hovering at an all-time low.

We can rebuild that lost trust with straight talk that recognizes the realities of the modern economy. So, paradoxically, the alliance begins with managers acknowledging that great employees might leave the company, and with employees being honest about their own career aspirations.

By putting this new alliance at the heart of your talent management strategy, you’ll not only bring back trust, you’ll be able to recruit and retain the entrepreneurial individuals you need to adapt to a fast-changing world.

These individuals, flexible, creative, and with a bias toward action, thrive when they’re on a specific “tour of duty”—when they have a mission that’s mutually beneficial to employee and company that can be completed in a realistic period of time.

Coauthored by the founder of LinkedIn, this bold but practical guide for managers and executives will give you the tools you need to recruit, manage, and retain the kind of employees who will make your company thrive in today’s world of constant innovation and fast-paced change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625275776
Publisher:	Harvard Business Review Press
Publication date:	07/08/2014
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Reid Hoffman is cofounder and Executive Chairman of LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, and partner at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Greylock.

Ben Casnocha is an award-winning entrepreneur and bestselling coauthor, with Reid, of The Start-up of You. He is a frequent speaker on talent management.

Chris Yeh is an entrepreneur, writer, and mentor. He helps interesting people do interesting things as VP of Marketing at PBworks and general partner at Wasabi Ventures.

Table of Contents

1 Employment in the Networked Age 1

The Alliance 7

Moving from Family to Team 10

Getting Value from Entrepreneurial Talent 12

Having the Courage to Lead Honest Conversations 18

2 Tours of Duty 21

Building Trust through Honest Conversations 26

Different Types of Tours 28

Blending Tours of Duty 36

A Broadly Applicable Framework 40

Longer-Term Alliances 45

Walking the Walk: How LinkedIn Uses Tours of Duty 47

3 Building Alignment in a Tour of Duty 57

Alignment for the Different Types of Tours 60

Walking the Walk: How LinkedIn Builds Alignment 68

Having the Conversation: Advice for Managers 71

4 Implementing Transformational Tours of Duty 75

Start the Conversation and Define the Mission 76

Set Up a System of Regular Checkpoints for Both Sides to Exchange Feedback with Each Other 80

Before the Tour of Duty Draws to a Close, Begin Defining the Next Tour of Duty 81

Managing for the Unexpected: When There's a Change in the Middle of a Tour 85

Having the Conversation: Advice for Managers 90

5 Employee Network Intelligence 97

Network Intelligence Generates Hidden Data, Serendipity, and Opportunity 102

6 Implementing Network Intelligence Programs 109

Recruit Connected People 110

Teach Employees How to Mine Intelligence from Their Networks via Conversation and Social Media 111

Rolf Out Programs and Policies That Help Employees Build Their Individual Networks 115

Have Employees Share What They Learn with the Company 119

Walking the Walk: How LinkedIn Uses Network Intelligence 121

Having the Conversation: Advice for Managers 123

7 Corporate Alumni Networks 127

It's All about the ROI 130

Four Reasons to Invest in an Alumni Network 132

Three Levels of Investment in Alumni Networks 137

Walking the Walk: The LinkedIn Corporate Alumni Network 139

8 Implementing an Alumni Network 143

Decide Who You Wont to Include in Your Alumni Network 143

Explicitly Define the Expectations and Benefits of the Relationship 145

Establish a Comprehensive Exit Process 147

Build Links between Current Employees and Alumni 148

Having the Conversation: Advice for Managers 150

Conclusion 153

Appendix A Sample Statement of Alliance 157

Appendix B Mission Alignment Exercise: People We Admire 167

Appendix C Getting Started at Your Company 171

Notes 173

Index 177

Acknowledgments 189

About the Authors 191

Editorial Reviews

06/09/2014
Fresh off the success of 2012’s The Start-Up of You, LinkedIn cofounder Hoffman and entrepreneurs Casnocha and Yeh return with an extended version of Hoffman’s Harvard Business Review article “Tours of Duty.” This packed book focuses on “rebuilding trust and loyalty through an alliance” between employees and employer; the old model is “based on a dishonest conversation,” which promises loyal employees guaranteed lifetime employment. Downsizing and layoffs have ended that model. Employees are now expected to think more like entrepreneurs, and companies and their staffs must find new models to build trusting, mutually productive relationships. Hoffman and his coauthors suggest that companies create “tours of duty” to foster employee growth and development. The three tours are “rotational,” during which entry-level employees can learn the business and find their place; “transformational,” during which the mid-career employee can do something substantive; and “foundational,” for long-term employees who serve as stewards of the mission. This approach is heavily based on fast-paced, competitive world of Silicon Valley, and, at times, the emphasis on LinkedIn makes the book feel like an ad campaign. Nonetheless, the specifics on helping employees network and aligning employee and company goals and values will help all employers create an engaged and self-actualized workforce. Agent: Lisa DiMona, Writer’s House. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age…co-authored by Reid Hoffman (the co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn), Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh is a quick, easy read for individuals who are interested in employer-employee relationships and leaders' ability to attract, manage, and retain the right staff." — Education Week

“Recommended Reading: 10 Books on Creative Leadership” – Forbes

Business Insider’s list of business books every professional should read before turning 30

"The Alliance shaped career conversations in a way that was way more visible and healthy than I'd ever seen done." — Pat Wadors, Head of HR for LinkedIn; as seen in Business Insider

“… an insightful look at the new employer-employee relationship (especially for those of us on-boarding Gen Y and soon Millennials). — Ken Tencer, CEO of Spyder Works Inc., Globe and Mail

“This book will force you to see the future, it will show you new models of work, and it has the eminence and perspective to make your entire team think… an important new book which is well worth a read.” — Forbes

“an essential handbook for dealing with the challenges of managing an ever more connected, ever more mobile workforce.” — Barnes & Noble

“In a provocative new book, the father of social networks reveals a startling new way to reframe the relationship between employers and employees.” — Fortune magazine

“Readers will discover in this engaging book that the relationship between employee and employer doesn't have to be branded as ‘It's complicated.’" — TD magazine (Association for Talent Development)

“For those of you who haven’t read The Alliance, Reid, Casnocha and Yeh make a compelling case for a third model that treats employees as ‘allies.’” — Human Resource Executive

ADVANCE PRAISE for The Alliance:

Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric—
“GE is competing in its third century. The key to sustained performance is developing competitive leaders in every era. The Alliance captures the essence of modern talent development: trust and mutual value creation helps both employer and employee compete in the marketplace. The authors lay out a framework that helps big companies as well as start-ups develop their people more effectively, while creating a competitive team.”

Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and CEO, American Express—
“Engaged employees are the key to success in any business. The Alliance is a terrific book that offers real-world insights on how to build loyalty, inspire creativity, and manage winning teams for the long term.”

From the Publisher