1. Human capital (HC). This comprises your team members and associates who work either for you or with you. As one industry leader said, this is the capital that leaves in the elevator at night. The important thing to remember about HC is it cannot be owned, only contracted, since it is completely volitional. In fact, more and more, knowledge workers own the means of your company’s production, and knowledge workers will invest their HC in those organizations that pay a decent return on investment, both economic and psychological. In the final analysis, your people are not assets (they deserve more respect than a copier machine and a computer)—they are not resources to be harvested from the land like timber when you run out. Ultimately,
they are volunteers, and it is totally up to them whether or not they get
back into the elevator the following morning.