Book excerpt: Nineteen experts examine research-based theories and current practices in highly successful enterprises, and explain how you can adopt effective, state-of-the-art methods to integrate your talent management functions. People are the most important asset in any organization, yet managing talent as a cohesive strategy is surprisingly rare. Far too many organizations are stuck in the tradition of letting human resource "silos" separate the components of talent management, rather than encouraging communication, cooperation, and effective integration of these functions. The Executive Guide to Integrated Talent Management paves the way to integrated talent management by assembling the collective experience and insight of 19 experts who examine research-based theories and current practices in highly successful enterprises. These contributors (including Marshall Goldsmith, Peter Cappelli, Leslie Joyce, and Edward E. Lawler, among others) provide practical advice about how you can adopt effective, state-of-the-art methods in your own organization. You'll benefit from the different perspectives of these world-renowned thought leaders and practitioners as they explain how to develop a comprehensive strategy that aligns big-picture organizational goals with the challenges of finding and keeping talent. You'll also learn firsthand about the best practices of corporations like 3M, Agilent, GE, Hertz, Cisco, and others who have pioneered efforts to make their organizations perform better through people.