Evergreen Talent: A Guide to Hiring and Cultivating a Sustainable Workforce

Tired advice for attracting, nurturing, and retaining employees comes from HR professional Matuson (Suddenly in Charge), wrapped in an unnecessary tree metaphor. Matuson sets out to debunk myths about talent management, propped up with stories from her own career, in order to show leaders what they’re doing wrong. The many self-assessment quizzes are helpful, but the superficial approach results in what reads like a series of online listicles. The bulk of the text comprises skimpy ideas and obvious observations (“candidate who continually reschedule or miss interviews are demonstrating that they are disorganized and unreliable” “employees... are interested in opportunities for growth”) married to arboreal imagery. Readers will learn about how to, among other things, “ensure a new crop of talent takes root,” retain the “canopy of mature workers,” and dispense of “dead wood to make room for new growth.” The seed/tree metaphor was hoary and overused before Matuson got ahold of it, and it appears on almost every page. There’s little new in this disappointing guide. Agent: Linda Konner, Linda Konner Literary. (Feb.)