The Human Capitalist

On human capital strategies:

No organization, whether it be government, for-profit or not-for-profit, can maximize its economy, efficiency and effectiveness without having up-to-date, state-of-the-art human capital strategies that are integrated with its overall strategic plan. The fact of the matter is people are assets, in which you have to invest, in which you expect a return, in which you have to manage the risk. They are not a resource that has an unlimited supply that you can consume and throw away. To make the Results Act come alive, to make it achieve its objective, there must be human capital reform. There must be a new way of looking at how to manage and get the most out of people in the federal government that is more performance-oriented.

On better pay for government executives:

In the government, my view is that at the entry level, it tends to pay somewhat under market. At the middle, in many cases, quite frankly, it can pay over market, based upon what role and function the individual's performing. But at the top, it definitely pays way under market. We're facing a situation where in our agency, as an example, 50 percent of our senior executives are going to be eligible for retirement in four years. A third of our evaluators are going to be eligible for retirement. We need to do what we can to make sure that they're fairly compensated.

On outsourcing:

We live in a time when all organizations, government and private-sector organizations, are looking at what is their mission, what is their purpose, what are the core competencies necessary to achieve those, and to what extent can you outsource to do it more economically, more efficiently and potentially more effectively.

On civil service reform:

We absolutely, positively need civil service reform. We will never achieve the objectives of maximizing economy, efficiency and effectiveness and the goals of the Results Act unless we get it. We need to protect merit principles, but we need to engage in fundamental civil service reform. Let's not kid ourselves. People have been down this road before. But it's fundamental to any organization. We've made reforms in many other areas, like strategic planning,
financial management, information
technology. This is the big missing
element. Eventually you've got to deal with it. Its day will come.

On setting an example:

As the nation's largest employer and as the entity that regulates and oversees labor laws and things of that nature, it would be appropriate for the government to try to become a best-practices employer as it relates to many human capital strategies. But we live in a political environment. And we're talking about something that has been a certain way for many decades.

We've got a long way to go to [demonstrate] best practices in human capital. But I think the private sector has got a long way to [demonstrate] best practices in human capital, too. I know a lot of CEOs who say people are their most valuable asset. They don't deliver on their promise. You've got to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. And so I'd like to see us one day get there. But it's going to be a ways before we are.