The greatest competitive edge in any company comes from its technology and its people. But technology never delivers itself, you need great people who can. Therefore, the most competitive edge to any organization is having exceptional people who can develop, build, innovate and deliver great products or services. Strategic people leadership, otherwise known as Human Capital, is critical to both short term and long term success.
I was hired as the first partner in charge of Human Capital for one of the largest venture capital firms in the country. Why? They realized that most of the issues and challenges that happened within their portfolio of companies (those companies that they had invested hundreds of millions of dollars into) generally centered more around poor talent and leadership than it did from the science or technology that was being developed. As such they wanted to reduce those issues by hiring a dedicated professional who would concentrate on ensuring that only exceptional talent was hired into each company, and that the companies would learn and administer best practices surrounding their talent. As such their commitment paid off dramatically with a much greater positive exit (IPO or acquisition) ratio than before my arrival. My company, Human Capital Advisors, grew out of that dedication and expanded to a much larger list of companies.
HR's has two primary responsibilities: Recruiting great people to your company and taking care of them once they are on board. A strong HR department will utilize the latest scientific processes and systems to ensure that the company is attracting, hiring and retaining the best talent available in the market. Companies who do not have an HR strategy will always be second to companies who actively and methodically recruit the best talent. Furthermore, because they truly understand that their