French Insights on Defining and Managing Talents

Research on the topic of talent definition and talent management historically comes from Anglo‐American countries, but the importance of the specific context where these notions emerged often goes unacknowledged. The objective of this research is to clarify the meaning of talent as well as to examine talent‐management practices in France, investigating the possibility of a unique French approach rooted in a different initial context. Based on 39 interviews conducted among employees of 26 global French companies, this study highlights the French idiosyncrasies of the notion of talent: the reconsideration of traditional high‐potential profiles, the preference for insiders, concern about the effects of segmentation, and the role of talents in helping others develop into talents. Accordingly, the multidimensional concept of talent can be refined for a single dimension (the exclusive/inclusive one) and then extended by adding new dimensions. Finally, this article considers the implications of these findings for the managers of French companies, for human resources professionals, and for talents themselves.