Calendar of Events

• Published date: 01 November 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/bl.30147
• Date: 01 November 2019

Harnessing Human Capital

to Achieve Big-Picture Goals

By Dr. Matt Brubaker

Dr. Matt Brubaker is CEO of human capital advisory rm FMG Leading. He is an

expert in sustainable transformation, and his client work focuses on enterprisewide

change initiatives, C-level development, and building high-performing, strategically

aligned executive teams. This article aims to help boards greenlight, suggest, and/

or advance thoughtful human capital plans poised to generate sustainable, long-

term performance and measurable return on investment.

Boards of directors hold governance

responsibility over myriad aspects

of the organizations they oversee.

While many who serve in these roles

are practiced in such areas as finance

and operations, few bring expertise

in human capital strategy—an area

increasingly recognized for its abil-

ity to help unlock value and achieve

overarching goals. This gap makes it

difficult for boards to differentiate ini-

tiatives devised in response to trendy,

novelty concepts and those rooted in

substance and strategy.

Human capital strategy is best

characterized as an integrated plan—

designed, executed, measured and

refined as needed—to ensure an orga-

nization’s human core is prepared to

effectively and efficiently achieve its

big-picture goals. It’s rooted in the idea

that the people systems in an organiza-

tion can be tuned to facilitate align-

ment of goals, high engagement, and

retention of key talent. Most organiza-

tions already deploy significant effort to

issues of employee training, motivation,

compensation, communication, etc. A

human capital strategy integrates these

tactics into a plan designed to drive

enterprise strategy and can yield tre-

mendous, tangible results.

With growing numbers of lead-

ers testifying to the power of such

initiatives to spur growth, even in

challenging business environments,

people-centric thinking has become

increasingly trendy, with many organi-

zations clamoring to put in place their

own programs to ensure they’re not

outperformed by competition. Still

others have been resistant to human

capital spend, skeptical of this rela-

tively new, touchy-feely business focus

and the enthusiasm surrounding it.

Like all areas worthy of investment,

human capital efforts can be under-

taken judiciously or inadequately.

Harnessing the true power of these

investments and thus generating

return on investment (ROI) requires

deliberate and thoughtful planning

rooted in best practice versus novelty

and misunderstanding. Boards can play

a significant role ensuring their orga-

nizations come out on the right side

NUMBER 166, NOV.–DEC. 2019

www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/bl

BOARD LEADERSHIP

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO GOVERNANCE

View this newsletter online at wileyonlinelibrary.com

Board Leadership • DOI: 10.1002/bl • Nov.–Dec. 2019

(continued on page 2)

CALENDAR

OF EVENTS

January 21–23, 2020

The Society for Corporate

Governance Essentials

Conference

Loews Portofino Bay Hotel,

5601 Universal Blvd.,

Orlando, FL 32819, USA

According to organizers, this

conference is designed as both

basic training for new corporate

secretaries and as a refresher

course for those with more

experience.

The three-day program is

taught by seasoned corporate

secretaries and governance pro-

fessionals who have mastered the

tools needed to manage the mul-

tifaceted responsibilities of corpo-

rate governance.

Attendees include corporate

secretaries, assistant secretaries,

general counsel, other corporate

counsel, paralegals, compliance or

ethics professionals, and industry-

related service providers, such as

auditing firms and legal experts,

among others. There are also insti-

tutional investors and IR profes-

sionals, and others employed by

public or privately held companies,

public authorities, or nonprofits.

For more information, visit

https://www.societycorpgov.org.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Director obligations to implement

anD monitor oversight systems . . 4

FooD For thought ........... 5

opportunity anD risk oFten arrive

at the party simultaneously . . . . . 6

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