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There are two things Vineet Nayar wants employers to know.

First, the author of the popular book, Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down (Harvard Business Press, 2010), says that “none of the ideas in the book are mine; I just vocalized it.”

Second, nothing in the book is “magic.”

Think that American employers are the only ones suffering a talent shortage?

Think again.

Statistics show that in Canada, 50 percent of nurses employed in 2003 will retire within the next 15 years. Japan is accepting more foreign workers to help alleviate its labor shortages. In Germany the lack of engineers has become so severe that some of its top firms are giving science kits to toddlers to pique their interest in science and technology.

As HR leaders grapple with myriad workforce planning issues post-recession, so too are they presented with a unique opportunity to enhance their hiring models to capitalize on changes in talent available in the labor market. In fact, given the strong focus that CEOs are now placing on enhanced people management strategy and processes, HR departments that do not adapt to the new hiring paradigm may risk their relevance, according to Michael Rendell, partner and leader of human resource services for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Robb E. Van Cleave is the Chairman of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Please click here to view this article on The Huffington Post.

Business guru Peter Drucker called management "the most important innovation of the 20th century." It was well-justified praise. Techniques for running large corporations, pioneered by men like Alfred Sloan of General Motors and refined at a bevy of elite business schools, helped fuel a century of unprecedented global prosperity.

As CEOs ponder how deeply to cut costs during tough economic times, many are fine-tuning their internal operations, says a recent survey.

They are bolstering customer service, internal communications and the quality of the company culture, according to the 2008 Management Action Programs Inc. (MAP) Quarterly CEO Survey.

Managing internal change—any kind of change process that ties directly back to an organization’s goals—also is increasing in importance; it’s one of the top five greatest challenges CEOs face, according to survey results.