ABSTRACT
The crusade for talent has proven to be extremely popular and highly resilient to the economic downturn across the world. However, as happens with many managerial terms, talent is a captivating word that people seem to implicitly understand and often use but, actually, it is very problematic to obtain a single definition. So, what is it in that name? After all, only by knowing what talent is can we think of managing it properly. In this chapter, I provide a critical review of the evidence on talent conceptualization and operationalization within the business realm. Moreover, I discuss how the different talent interpretations affect TM implementation (i.e., talent approaches and dilemmas around their operationalization). Taking a global stance, I offer a framework for conceptualizing talent within the business realm and an equation that can help to operationalize it.
