Valuing talent based on the value of their contributions.
At a working session on the national strategy for attracting, utilizing, and developing talent, General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized that talent should not be equated with high academic qualifications, titles, degrees, managerial positions, or years of service. Talent should be identified primarily by its qualities, practical abilities, creative thinking, concrete achievements, accomplishments, professional reputation, and value of its contributions.
Dr. Pham Ngoc Hung
(Communist Magazine)
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At a working session on the national strategy for attracting, utilizing, and developing talent, General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized that talent should not be equated with high academic qualifications, titles, degrees, managerial positions, or years of service. Talent should be identified primarily by its qualities, practical abilities, creative thinking, concrete achievements, accomplishments, professional reputation, and value of its contributions.
Academic qualifications, titles, degrees, positions, and years of service are not meaningless criteria. On the contrary, they reflect an individual's training, knowledge accumulation, experience, and professional maturity. In many fields, a solid academic foundation is crucial for developing in-depth professional competence. The problem lies in the fact that these criteria should not be transformed from mere references into a guarantee of talent.
In reality, many people don't possess outstanding academic records but have exceptional abilities in specific fields. This could be an engineer creating a technological product with wide-ranging applications; an inventor with a solution to a problem previously unsolved; an entrepreneur who has grown from practical experience but built a competitive business; or a Vietnamese expert abroad possessing valuable knowledge and experience but with no desire to seek a position within the government.
If talent policies primarily focus on "impressive resumes," such individuals are easily overlooked. Therefore, the message from the General Secretary and President calls for a shift from a mindset of "what's on the resume?" to one of "what have you accomplished and what can you accomplish?". Consequently, policies for attracting and utilizing talent need to shift strongly from managing "personnel scores" to measuring "impact results." Those selected should be linked to specific tasks, specific goals, specific deadlines, and specific deliverables. Success should not be measured solely by titles, the number of projects, or positions, but by the actual value created.
Of course, evaluating by results does not mean denying qualifications or downplaying training. On the contrary, foundational knowledge remains crucial. However, knowledge only truly becomes competence when it can be applied to create value. Therefore, qualifications are a basis for evaluation, but not the sole measure of competence.
This approach is also suitable for identifying talent outside the Party. Talent can emerge in many different spaces: in research institutes, universities, businesses, hospitals, social organizations, Vietnamese communities abroad, or even in real life. If we only search for talent through traditional recruitment channels, it is very easy to overlook talents that have yet to be identified.
To find the right people, one must first identify the right tasks. The General Secretary and President emphasized the need for agencies, ministries, and localities to clearly define the major problems requiring talented individuals, linking them to objectives, outcomes, deadlines, resources, authority, and evaluation criteria. Instead of asking a general question like, "Who are the talented people to attract?", a more specific question is needed: "What problems does the country need to solve, what skills are required, and who is best able to solve them?" When the question changes, the method of finding people also changes. When the method of finding people changes, the opportunities to discover truly talented individuals will broaden.
Attracting talent is the first step, but retaining it is the crucial one. Talented individuals are invited but not given suitable tasks, lacking autonomy, data, infrastructure, budget, and collaborators, making it difficult to achieve results. Therefore, attracting talent must go hand in hand with mechanisms for utilizing and retaining them.
Therefore, a key point in the General Secretary and President's directive is the requirement that each key talent be assigned a commensurate package of tasks, including objectives, decision-making authority, the right to choose a team of collaborators, infrastructure, data, budget, remuneration, responsibilities, and expected outcomes. It is unacceptable to demand breakthrough results from someone while granting them conventional authority, forcing them to navigate too many bureaucratic hurdles and become dependent on decisions outside their area of expertise.
Empowerment does not mean granting privileges. Authority must be accompanied by responsibility and accountability. Talented individuals need to be given the opportunity to experiment, innovate, and accept reasonable risks, but a clear distinction must be made between risks in research and innovation and violations of the law, abuse of policies, or the misappropriation of resources. Excessive fear of making mistakes will hinder innovation; but ignoring discipline in the name of innovation is also unacceptable. This is also the spirit of Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW "On promoting the pioneering spirit, exemplary conduct, innovation, boldness in thinking, boldness in acting, and boldness in taking responsibility of cadres and Party members in the new era," recently issued by the Politburo.
It's also important to note that valuing talent isn't just about high salaries, big bonuses, or titles. Talented individuals need trust, creative space, autonomy, and a fair environment. Often, for them, being able to do the right job and having their value recognized is just as important as material benefits.
Furthermore, it is necessary to remove barriers related to job titles and administrative standards. Talented experts do not necessarily have to follow the traditional management path; outstanding scientists do not necessarily need extensive administrative experience; and successful entrepreneurs do not necessarily need high academic ranks or degrees. The important thing is to accurately assess the capabilities and requirements of each position, rather than lowering standards.
Each field also needs its own appropriate evaluation method. Scientists are evaluated by the value of their research; engineers by their technological capabilities and products; managers by organizational efficiency; and entrepreneurs by business results linked to ethics and social responsibility. A single measure cannot be used to evaluate all types of talent.
Notably, talent should not be simply understood as individuals who "shine" in isolation. The General Secretary and President of the country require each strategic talent to be responsible for leaving their capabilities to the organization through team building, training successors, transferring knowledge, standardizing processes, and creating data and intellectual property. This is the criterion for distinguishing between individual talent and the strategic value of talent. A talented individual creating valuable products is valuable; but building a talented team, creating a knowledge ecosystem, and helping the organization continue to develop after leaving their position is even more valuable.
Therefore, the ultimate goal of talent policy is not to gather as many accomplished individuals as possible into a list, but to create new capabilities for the nation. In the context of increasingly knowledge- and innovation-based competition, Vietnam needs a more genuine culture of valuing talent. This culture must combat the obsession with degrees, titles, and seniority; and at the same time, fight against the mentality of looking down on those who have not yet achieved titles but have proven their capabilities through practical experience.
