THE CAPITAL WITHIN YOU

Whenever, young entrepreneurs want to start a business or any start up, the first question that pops up is, “do I have the needed capital to do this business?” I recall sometimes back, whenever I hear the words, “I need capital for business,” it is mostly associated to money only. That may sound familiar and it is not deniable, however, greater capital is not in money but within you-your right mindset!

Oxford Dictionary defines capital as wealth in the form of money or other assets owned by a person or organisation or available for a purpose such as starting a company or investing. It also defines it as people who possess wealth and use it to control a society economic activity, considered collectively. The key words are asset, people and wealth. However, my focus is people as capital currently known in the field of Human resources as Human Capital.

Different scholars have defined human capital differently and mostly agreed explanation refers to knowledge, skills and abilities of employees in the organisation (Michael Armstrong). From this, my observation is that human capital is you and what you possess within you which you can use to better your life and others. This is because every human being has a measure of intellectual capital which include, human capital itself, social capital (networks of social relationship) and organisational capital (institutionalised knowledge or explicitly knowledge) and every human being has a brain and their mind. This includes everyone, as I have seen people with no or very little education with skills of brick layering, carpentry, sewing, agriculture (selling tomatoes, vegetables, keeping animals and selling dairy products), sales, and other trades you may think of and they make real money surpassing even some educated colleagues in air-conditioned offices.

Human capital is not about:

Payroll, regulations, compensation, signing contracts, appointment letters, charging employees, fixing people with draconian rules and regulations, suffocating terms and conditions of services, civil service regulations and all those routine jobs.

Human Capital is about:

Your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, attitude, emotional intelligence, personal and professional values, a purpose driven life which is within you and make you distinct. It is not tangible but observable through results. In other explanation, it is your growth mindset and depending how you use your mind, it can make your life better or bitter. For instance, having a positive attitude towards life can help you achieve more than a negative mindset. 

Thomas Jefferson said, “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.” Very true statement, you may give two people $1000 each, one with a right mental attitude or positive mind and other one with wrong mental attitude or negative mind and after some time, their spending will yield interesting results, the wrong mental attitude would first think of buying latest iPhone or any smartphone (consumption mentality) and show off to friends and the other one will invest and make more dollars (growth mentality). Dr Joseph Murphy in his book Miracles of the Mind noted that, “a man with a poverty-type mind finds himself in poverty-stricken conditions. Another man with a mind filled with ideas of wealth is surrounded by everything he needs."

It is imperative to remember that people are indisputably gifted with different talents, their capital cannot be compared to other assets, money, equipment or anything, the capital they possess cannot be owned by organisations only by themselves. Their capital never depreciates like other assets but it appreciates with proper developmental programmes and only this capital can make an individual or organisation to have a sustainable competitive advantage. We are in a global knowledge economy, using the “knowledge in people”, thus it is simply a “brain driven” economy. Put people capital first, value and treasure them, empathise and recognise them.

You are great, there is a tremendous dynamo within you and the capital is simply “Within You”, use it wisely and make your life better.