Talent Management for C-level and Beyond: Session 3 (Video Training) (PowerPoint PPTX Slide Deck)

This is session 3 of an online training program on Talent Management for C-level (and beyond), developed by Dr. Charlie Bishop.

It includes:
•  Training presentations
•  Video training (MP4)
•  Your Reputation as a Leader (PPTX)
•  Manager Self-Assessment (PPTX)

Dr. Charlie Bishop is an accomplished, seasoned executive and published author. Charlie has over 20+ years of experience in senior level positions at Fortune 100 companies, including Federal Express, Baxter, and Bank of America, leading these organizations through significant changes.

Session 3 of the “Talent Management for C-Level and Beyond” program, led by Dr. Charlie Bishop, centers on a foundational requirement for effective talent management in Phase 2 of the ecosystem: a shared, usable understanding of the organization’s strategy. The session makes the case that leaders and the workforce cannot execute with consistency when the strategic direction is vague, overly abstract, or confused with operations planning. Dr. Bishop reinforces that clarity around strategy provides the information and guardrails people need to act in alignment with where the organization is going, and that this clarity is essential to creating focus, sustaining energy, and building the conditions for a true competitive advantage.

A core focus of the session is separating “strategy” from “operations” and avoiding the common traps that derail strategic thinking. Strategy is positioned as a directional inquiry about getting different—choices about what the organization will offer, to whom, and where it will place emphasis—while operations is about getting better through continuous improvement, predictability, and disciplined execution. Dr. Bishop highlights how organizations often drift into “comfortable” planning, confuse best-practice improvement with strategy, or default to operational effectiveness as their primary differentiator, which can be risky and ultimately self-defeating. The session also stresses that alignment is the essence of management: without a clear strategy, resource allocation, trade-offs, and decision-making become inconsistent, and the organization ends up scattered across priorities.

To make strategy concrete and communicable, Dr. Bishop introduces two practical tools: the Field of Play and the Strategic Profile. The Field of Play is a simple product/market framing that helps leadership teams focus discussions, force trade-offs, define boundaries, and create a common language about where growth will come from and what the organization will and will not do. The Strategic Profile then serves as a shorthand, unit- or function-specific articulation of direction and priorities, helping staff functions (including HR) translate the enterprise strategy into what they must deliver, what resources and capabilities are required, and what critical issues must be addressed. A consistent theme throughout the session is that communication is not optional—leaders must teach the strategy repeatedly and clearly, because confused individuals do not perform well, and strategic clarity is the prerequisite for talent decisions that genuinely support strategy implementation.

Producing a pipeline of talent required for the future is broadly recognized across the world as a business imperative! At the same time, there is a serious disparity—Boards of Directors and C-Level executives rate their "lack of a leadership pipeline" as a major deterrent to innovation, growth, productivity, and profitability.

Dr. Bishop's program aims to change this by providing a proven framework and turnkey toolkit—scalable to any size of organization. Our methodology is a refreshing and different, common-sense approach, which will work for you and for your organization. You will learn best practices discovered in premiere organizations, such as FedEx, Baxter International, Bank of America, and other firms. You will also come to discover and understand how we have truly over-complicated this talent issue. Thus, this program will be about simplification and "common sense" workable solutions.