There are five main players in a strategic relationship – the one I call ‘a successful relationship’; Top Talent Recruiter, Top Talent, Competition, Stockholders, and Customers. Attracting and retaining the best partner in a relationship is as tough as it is in business, with statistics indicating a yearly high rate of, relationship failure, divorce, and break-ups.

The number of young and old people who continuously change partners due to the failure of their relationships is shocking. Young people seem to enter into relationships because they hope that things will turn out differently if they keep changing partners. However, it is impossible to get it right if one doesn’t know the good qualities of a successful relationship.

The number of one’s partners will never be big enough for one to understand the ins and outs of a successful relationship. Furthermore, a heart once filled with love will never be perfectly replaced, and new partners will not replace those who are leaving. Despite all the heartaches, tears and misunderstandings, you can attract and retain top talent. We all know the rule which clearly states that we should have one opening at a time for any one potential partner. Similarly, in business, we have never had one job position and hired two or more people to fill it. Why then when you get a lot of ‘applications’ you choose not to use your business acumen? Why do you end up dating two or more partners? Remember, there’s always one position only at any given relationship chance. That’s rule number one. However, some will argue that in an African culture a man is allowed to have more partners or wives. Similarly, a businessman may argue and say that a business can hire two or more employees to do the same job.

Both arguments are acceptable but not strategic. Hence many relationships –both business and personal- fail dismally.

There are seven negative factors that contribute to the failure of relationships; namely, cost, time constraints, satisfaction abuse, stress, resource constraints, conflicts and unmet expectations.

As a top talent recruiter, despite the rule, it doesn’t stop you to have more applications than what you need. However, at the end of the day, you have to make the final decision which is to accept one application only. Perhaps, you are already asking yourself, ‘How to choose the top talent?’. In this book, I will equip you with the skills of being able to recruit your top talent without suffering the seven negative factors people face in relationships. This is the first book that will equip you with first hand best practice.