Jim Collins of Good to Great fame is notorious for highlighting the need for asking the who questions and getting the right people on the bus
. His research clearly outlines that people can likewise be a quantifiable strategic asset and any investment in an organization's human capital is surely to produce an above-market-rate ROI as the global war for talent continues to strengthen. Beyond the clich that people are among an organization's greatest assets, they are also quantifiable and strategic soft assets. Similar to a brand promise, people are added to an organization because of their promise to deliver quantifiable value. Only through adherence to a systematic process of a search for great talent, assessment of their appropriate fit (I'm often amazed at how many organizations "settle"); thorough on-boarding, training and development of their broad-based business acumen (versus simply their functional expertise); and consistent organizational alignment (for not only what the business needs today, but where the business is headed) and outplacement of a "wrong fit" with the least amount of disruption to the business, will an organization be able to fully gain the value of people as a strategic soft asset. That's people promise, value, and equity realized.