This is such a great IT Conversations Podcast (yes its old I know… I’m way behind – I find it much harder to get through podcasts than blogs – it’s harder to cut out the crap).

It’s the Software 2005 presentation by Dr. James Goodnight CEO of SAS, the world’s largest privately owned software company who have maintained double digit growth in their almost 30 year existence. Pretty flippen incredible!

As Peter Drucker (I think?) once said, the only things left to do in business are innovation and marketing. It follows fairly logically in my opinion that the company which attracts and retains the most talented people will be the one which can do these things best. SAS seem to be doing pretty well with this strategy.

We have recently had a couple of people leave Quirk and whilst I know that this is a normal course of business it really affects me on personal level and I start asking all sorts of questions.

I have always wanted Quirk to be an employer of choice. A company that people are eager to become and remain a part of. We give our staff respect and freedom and a work environment that is enjoyable and breeds creativity. But it’s still not enough to retain everyone, thankfully its enough to retain the ones that matter… for now.

As the talent war really heats up we are going to have to do something remarkable to win it.