The fast growing talent gap is prompting even CEOs to add leadership development and recruitment to their busy daily schedules, according to a new report by Deloitte and Forbes. The Threading the Talent Needle report, which features several different takes on talent management revealed through one-on-one interviews with senior leaders at global organizations, described several companies that believe the shortage of qualified people is becoming severe enough to get the CEO's direct attention.

\[more\]Two-thirds of the organizations in the study cited a critical need for the CEO to meet face to face with high-potential employees. These findings underscore the severity of the human capital shortage, considering that CEOs must add talent management to their daily tasks of directing business strategy, managing finances and working directly with the board. "Our CEO is very much involved in selecting people at higher levels, and he is directly involved in the talent review process in our organization," said Juergen Brokatzky-Geiger, head of Human Resources at Novartis.

In addition to interacting with employees to aid retention and develop skills useful to the organization, some CEOs are even spending time on attracting new talent at all levels. "I personally get involved with recruitment days and sessions that we organize around the world, so I can speak to young people and see what they really have on their minds," said Peter Bakker, CEO of TNT, a Netherlands-based delivery services company. The effort CEOs are placing on talent management emphasizes the importance building a competitive workforce plays in the future of the organization.

For more information on this study, please visit Deloitte's Talent Management website at www.deloitte.com/us/talent.