Many of the speakers at the HR Symposium quoted the statistic:  "83% of executives (CEOs) now list talent management as their greatest concern" (or something similar, such as available talent doesn't have the necessary skills to be effective, etc.).  If that is the case, why is HR still treated like the red-headed step-child?  My experience leads me to believe it's because such a high percentage of HR practitioners are women and such a high percentage of CEOs are men.  If the same recommendations and information came from a man, I think the CEO would be much more likely to follow it.

What do you think?