[Insight & Opinion] How to Leverage 'Boundaryless Talents'

Those Who Achieve Results Even After Moving to a New Organization
Move to Another Team After Fulfilling Their Purpose
A Chance for Internal Members to Learn and Grow

A manager once asked me, "Why is it that when we recruit people from large corporations or prominent global companies, they often fail? We want them to demonstrate their abilities, but they keep complaining that the systems aren't in place or that the organization needs improvement, and they just keep talking about the good old days when they were successful." Many companies hire talent from global corporations, tech companies, consulting firms, or top-tier large companies to learn advanced management, business, or technical skills. While there are success stories, failures are actually more common.

A study in the United States found that external hires receive salaries more than 18% higher than internal employees, but their turnover rate is 61% higher, and it takes them three years to achieve the same performance as those promoted internally.

Professor Kang Sungchun of Seoul National University presented the following formula in his book Inside Out: "Individual performance within an organization = individual human capital + social capital + organizational capital." Individual human capital refers to a person's capabilities. Social capital means outstanding colleagues, and organizational capital refers to a good culture or system within the organization. In other words, an individual's performance is not solely due to their own abilities. Performance results from the combination of excellent colleagues and the organization's culture and systems. He stated that the influence of individual human capital is about 30%.

When a company recruits talent, it only acquires the individual's human capital. Advanced companies usually have superior social and organizational capital, so the individual's performance is often overestimated. Therefore, during recruitment, the actual capability is often weaker than the reputation suggests. In fact, those who excel or build outstanding teams in places with weaker social or organizational capital are more likely to be true experts and skilled professionals.

However, there are people like Hiddink who, even when moving to a new organization, overcome these hurdles and quickly produce sustained results. Professor Kang called such people "boundaryless careerists." They develop their careers and achieve results beyond organizational boundaries, hence the term "boundaryless careerists." I prefer to call them "boundaryless talents."

What kind of people are these who produce such outcomes?

1) They not only have outstanding personal capabilities,

2) but also continuously learn and grow step by step through experiences working with diverse people in various companies.

3) When they join a new organization, they do not cling to or compare the social and cultural capital of their past organizations with the new one. They respect and acquire the social and cultural capital of the new organization while naturally transplanting the excellent execution they experienced before into the new organization.

4) They do not compare or disregard existing personnel but acknowledge and unite with them. They minimize external hires except for essential functions and focus on discovering, nurturing, and strengthening existing personnel.

5) They have a clear methodology for generating results. They customize this approach to fit the organization and derive strategies to demonstrate performance.

If you are a manager recruiting such people, what is the best way to utilize them? It is best to entrust them with key internal personnel so that these internal members can learn as much as possible. Through them, existing members can learn, strengthen their skills, and be developed. This way, even if these talents leave, their capabilities remain within the organization.

Shin Sujeong, Head of KT Enterprise Division