An article in a 1998 McKinsey quarterly titled The War for Talent changed thinking in the corporate world. The human resources community had, for a while, been looking for euphemisms for “recruitment”, after the word had become tarnished. McKinsey’s unleashing of the word “talent” – previously limited to the entertainment business – gave recruitment people a shot in the arm. They were no longer just hiring people, they were in a war for talent, much like Hollywood agents! And