Edelman operates with the belief that its talent is at the core of its business success; for this reason, talent development takes center stage at the global public relations firm, which has 54 offices and 4,000 employees worldwide.

Claudia Patton, Edelman’s recently appointed chief talent officer, shared how the company identifies and develops employees capable of succeeding in a global environment.

Describe your responsibilities as chief talent officer.
I report directly to the CEO and work closely with our business leaders and the regional HR teams to ensure that Edelman recruits, develops, retains and advances the best, most diverse talent in the industry, from interns to the most senior executives. In this role, I’ll further integrate HR and development programs into our daily business activities. I am marrying business needs with talent development programs and opportunities.

What kinds of development opportunities do you provide global leaders?
We don’t see professional growth as solely a vertical process. Instead, we create ways for people to design career paths that put their talents to use in multiple ways over the course of many years.

The Edelman NEXT platform encourages our talent to match their aspirations and skills in three key career paths: geography leader, practice head and global client relationship manager. We’re forward-thinking in our performance reviews and career progressions plans. We spend reviews discussing new challenges, areas of opportunity and professional goals, more so than reflecting on the past. We [provide] employees with career guidance and access to global clients, which allows them to develop the mindset and skills necessary to drive global success.

What traits enable global executives to be successful?
The soft-skills of leadership coupled with business acumen are key to corporate success on a global scale. Successful global leaders are first self-aware and lifelong learners. Leaders must be relentless about reflecting on their strengths and areas for development. They know what they know and understand that they must learn what they don’t know. This goes hand-in-hand with being a lifelong learner.