Once, I dreamed I was in a Hollywood movie and that I was the star of that movie. And, in that movie, I was the head of a perfect company in an ideal world. There were no taxes, no EEOC, no government regulations, no disgruntled employees and best of all, no unhappy customers of any kind. That really blew my mind. Then, suddenly, because this was a dream, there appeared out in front of me a crowd and, out of the middle of that crowd, came a lady and she whispered something in my ear, something crazy…
“Wake up, you’re dreaming!!”
The Real World
“What if” scenarios are nice but only in a dream. There are no free rides. Perfect companies are actually the result of years of hard work, careful thought, and sometimes, hard-hearted decisions combined with a little bit of luck. That, in essence, is the real truth of the “ideal” business world we operate in.
With those, somewhat diverse thoughts in mind, I reevaluated my appreciation for the business world. There are innumerable obstacles including the competition, the government and even the customers who are either happy with, or downright unconcerned about, your success or failure. For this reason, it is important to stay focused on building your business and utilizing all of its resources to the maximum extent possible.
The Human Element
Nowhere is the above goal more important than in the realm of human capital management. For the vast majority of businesses, people are their most important asset. Even in an ideal world, where would Plato, Rousseau or Thoreau be without people?
For most, the downside to human capital management involves the time-consuming and tedious paperwork involved in administering the entire human resource process. Still, HCM has its benefits, most notably in the satisfaction gained in finding and developing the best talent. As an added benefit, superior employees are happier, provide better customer service and cause fewer problems. Indeed, they are simply the surest and fastest way to get the closest thing to a perfect company in an ideal world. Find and take that pearl.
