Hire, Train and Retain the Best Talent

Over the last few posts, I’ve seemingly strayed from business and technology matters into political commentary. However, my posts on immigration and technology policy actually foreshadowed some changes that I was planning to make to the PPM construct – specifically, adding a sixth principle of profit maximization that mandates hiring, training and retaining top talent. To be competitive as a company, you need to be able to hire the best employees that you can find at a competitive rate. To be competitive as a nation, we need to attract and retain the best talent in the world. Putting barriers on who you can hire, or where you can hire from, means that you are settling for second best or paying too much for your employees – If your competitors can get better employees, or the same employees at lower rates, it puts you at a decided disadvantage.

Unless you are a sole proprietorship, the customer experience is going to be managed by your employees. To develop and deliver: PPM1) innovative and differentiated products, PPM2) price leadership, PPM3) superior service delivery, PPM4) balanced customer interactions and PPM5) fair and equitable conflict resolution that differentiates you from your competition, you need to hire and develop more talented employees than your competitors. Employee satisfaction will lead to higher customer satisfaction, and recognized leading employers have higher growth rates.