Lowell Bryan wrote in the McKinsey Quarterly that there is a new metric around: Times have changed and ROIC is no longer important \u2013 the new metric is profit per employee. ((Bryan, Lowell, 2007. \u201cThe New Metrics of Corporate Performance: Profit per Employee.\u201d McKinsey Quarterly 2007 Number 1. Page 56)) Again, we look at the shift not only in terms of a knowledge economy, but how the focus of work and process shifts to create more value. In effect, the evolution of business shifts concurrently with the evolution of the economy.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the Article at a Glance:<\/p>\n
Bryan has a point. If we\u2019re locked up in a knowledge economy, why are we still using industrial era production analysis when the real capital is talent? If business can make the shift to evaluating the return on talent rather than capital, would this make the executive teams more interested in what we\u2019re doing? Yesterday I said<\/a> \u201cHR should be the right hand of the CEO, but to get there, we need to not only understand talent, but tie it together with the organization\u2019s ability to drive production innovation.\u201d Perhaps this is one of those metrics that we can bring to the table that helps us get stronger traction as leaders and contributors in the decision making cycle.<\/p>\n