For Africa to realise its potential and create the socio economic conditions that its people aspire to, it needs organisations that can compete in a fast changing, complex global environment. This will only be achieved if African organisations grow their talent and leadership skills to add to the pool of skills and talent on the continent. In the modern economy countries, cities and organisations, both public and private sector, need to make themselves “talent attractive” since talent and skills are a prerequisite for sustainable investment.

This book provides insight into what leading thinkers and organisations do to build, develop and retain talent. The contributors comprise academics, consultants and organisational leaders, all of whom have a wealth of expertise and experience in talent management. The contributors provide high level strategic frameworks as well as practical tools to implement talent management processes. Of particular interest are the comprehensive case studies from some of South Africa’s leading companies, all of whom have had extensive experience in Africa and globally. They are truly South Africa’s “premier league” organisations.

Case Studies From Woolworths, Nedbank, Discovery, Coca-Cola Sabco, Unilever.

Shaping Africa’s Talent is a “must read” for Executives, leaders, HR professionals and academics who are responsible for building the continents next generation of organisations and talent.

Shaping the Strategic Landscape:

• Talent Management in Africa – A Contextual Overview – Wilhelm Crous, Knowledge Resources
• Talent Framework and Key issues in Talent – Terry Meyer, Leadership SA
• Strategic Thinking: Future-focused Competence for African Leadership Talent - Morne Mostert, Institute for Futures Research
• Talent and Technology: Your Business Should Be Social – Andre Horak
• Growing Leaders for a Connected World - Terry Meyer, Leadership SA
• Talent Development for Sustainable Competitiveness - Samuel Njenga
• Developing a Compelling Employer Value Proposition To Attract Africa’s Top Talent - Jenali Skuse and Madeline Lass, Universum
• Executive Talent in Africa – Allen Shardelow & Debbie Farnaby, Heidrick & Struggles
• A Comprehensive Talent Management Framework in Action – Johan Ludike,

African Talent Strategies Case Studies:

• “Feeling the magic”: Woolworths Career Paths Project: A Case Study - Chantal Butler, Woolworths
• The role of organizational culture in the attraction and retention of Talent – the Nedbank Story – Abe Thebyane, Nedbank
• Discovery’s Informal and Innovative Talent Management –Terence Okeke Taylor, Discovery
• Home Grown African Bottler Shows Winning Spirit and Culture: Coca-Cola Sabco – Tracy Potgieter, Coca-Cola Sabco

Leading Talent processes:

• The role of Business Schools in building Africa’s talent – Terry Meyer, Leadership SA
• Building Africa's Technical & Vocational Skills – Nazrene Mannie
• Designing and implementing a graduate development programme – James Hu, Unilever
• From Potential to Performance: Assessing Talent and Leadership Potential – Lisa Ashton & Jacques Haworth, BIOSS Southern Africa
• Coaching for Leadership Impact – Sarah Babb
• Building learning paths - Lydia Cillie Schmidt, The Talent Hub

Terry Meyer is a consultant, academic, author and presenter. He specialises in strategy and organisational design, leadership, change and human capital strategy.

Diagrids are load-bearing structures made of steel diagonal grids. They were first used in the great buildings of the turn of the millennium, such as the Swiss Re Tower in London ("The Gherkin") and the Hearst Magazine Tower in New York City. Dagrids owe their ensuing popularity not only to their stunning aesthetic value, but also to their very tangible benefits: lateral loading capacity, a massive saving of material, a significant gain in open, usable floor area, and increased flexibility. At its opening in 2014, the Leadenhall Building in London will be the first skyscraper without a bearing inner core-thanks to a diagrid structure. This book explains comprehensively for the first time all of the aspects involved in this new bearing structure. The author, experienced in teaching, research, and practice (recent publication: Understanding Steel Design. An Architectural Design Manual, 2011), has tracked the development of this technology from its beginnings and employs photographic documentation of the construction phases of many diagrid structures.

Understanding Steel Design is based on an overall approach to understand how to design and build with steel from the perspective of its architectural applications. Steel is a material whose qualities have enormous potential for the creation of dynamic architecture. In an innovative approach to the reality of working with steel, the book takes a new look both at the state of tried-and-tested techniques and at emerging projects. Hundreds of steel structures have been observed, analyzed and appraised for this book. In-depth construction photographs by the author are complemented by technical illustrations created to look more closely at systems and details. Drawings supplied by fabricators allow greater insight into a method of working with currrent digital drawing tools.

Complexity in architecture, construction and material manipulation is constantly increasing due to our present ability to design, calculate and fabricate an extending range of geometric shapes and systems. This volume addresses the design of complexity in the planning, fabrication and construction of steel structures based on non-orthogonal geometries: curved and chaotic geometries, poly-diagrid systems, lattice-grid structures and others. Topical photographs by the author on a wide range of international projects present innovative methods and techniques, providing an excellent understanding of the possibilities and requirements of complex steel structures.

This set of four volumes on steel design by Terri Meyer Boake comprises both an overall approach for understanding how architects design and build with steel, as well as cutting-edge specialized topics reflecting the revolutionary transformation in the use of steel in architecture in the last decade. Among these are diagrid structures, architecturally exposed structural steel (AESS) and non-orthogonal geometries in steel design. Boake's books "underscore the currency of architectural designs that combine the tectonic expression of steel with particular attention to the craft of building and its detailing" (Journal of Architectural Education). Each volume comprises thematic sections that provide a proficient overview of the topic, and covers constructed examples from across the world.