Steve Taylor

Discusses how human resource development professionals can help respond to the needs of older workers and older customers in the U.S. Impact of population aging on the human resource side of American business and industry; Establishment of a priority for developing older employees; Honing one's skills for training older workers.

The Aging of America

In “Big Data: The Management Revolution” by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson in the Harvard Business Review, the authors argue that big data is far more powerful than the analytics of the past. Executives can measure and therefore manage more precisely than ever before. They can make better predictions and smarter decisions. They can target more effective interventions in areas that so far have been dominated by gut and intuition rather than by data and rigor.While this may be true, there are still some who believe that intuition is indispensable to really good decisions based on large amounts of information. In December 2012, The New York Times Science section profiled Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal, a master diagnostician who impresses his peers at medical conferences by taking bits of information – symptoms, lab results, imaging – and homing in on a diagnosis. He occasionally checks himself using a diagnostic checklist program called Isabel. The program has yet to offer a diagnosis that he has missed.His goal in demonstrating his talent for diagnosis is to “elevate the stature of thinking” in medical care. “Because in medicine, thinking is our most important procedure.” He relies on intuition to separate the signal from the noise in the information about a patient.Steve Lohr, who writes about technology, economics, and innovation for The New York Times, shared his qualms about big data in a December 2012 article “Sure, Big Data is Great. But So Is Intuition.”The enthusiasm for quantitative methods, he writes, began with Frederick Taylor’s “scientific management” more than a decade ago. ”The problem is that a math model, like a metaphor, is a simplification. …In so many Big Data applications, a math model attaches a crisp number to human behavior, interests, and preferences. “ Take note, those of you who are using big data for workforce planning and talent management.Lohr cites recent books for those seeking more insights into big data.Models Behaving Badly, by Emanuel DermanKeeping Up With the Quants, by Thomas H. Davenport (not yet released)The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You,  by Eli Pariser

Big Data: Should You Trust an Algorithm?

Our first blog in this series introduced why talent development leaders should be interested in learning more about intellectual capital. Now, let’s examine what intellectual capital (IC) is, as well as how it relates to intellectual property (IP).This isn’t simply a matter of semantics. The easiest way to explain it is that all IP is IC, but not all IC is IP. In other words, IP is a subset of IC. Actually, this is a rather basic principle to comprehend, and makes loads of sense—even though the world often uses these terms interchangeably. One way to describe IC is that it is the difference between book value and market value. That is, everything that creates value but cannot be captured by traditional accounting. With that explanation as a backdrop, there are five overall types of IC: intellectual propertyorganizational capitalhuman capitalrelationship capitalbusiness model. All together, these components comprise the total wisdom of an organization. The table below provides examples of each type of IC. **Table 1: Types of Intellectual Capital**Intellectual PropertyOrganizational   CapitalHuman CapitalRelationship CapitalBusiness ModelPatentsInformation systems and technologyEmployee engagementCompany brandStrategy and competitive environmentCopyrights and trademarksSales/service processes and practicesSelection and trainingClient relationship management approachesGo-to-market approach and industry focusProgram deliverablesProduct development methodologySuccession planningVendor/partner networksOperational excellenceTrade secretsProject management processesPerformance managementClient and vendor contractsProduct/service leadershipA Closer Look at IPIntellectual property is the easiest to codify, and it’s the one component of IC that, in many ways, defines the learning and development industry. IP is typically comprised of physically tangible deliverables that learning professionals use. These will come in multiple forms, including:off-the-shelf, tailored, or totally custom programsfacilitator guidessoftware programsapplication toolsassessment inventoriesmodelsparticipant workbooksvideosPPT presentations.In general, IP falls into four broad categories: patents, copyrights and trademarks, program deliverables, and trade secrets (see Table 1). The challenge, of course, is determining who actually “owns” each form, as well as the respective usage rights. These issues can be very complicated topics (that I will address in a future blog post). Meanwhile, the other four categories of IC—organizational capital, human capital, relationship capital, and business models— are more difficult to codify and successfully replicate than IP. Even so some will argue that the real competitive advantage of an organization revolves around how it leverages these components—its structure, systems and processes; the relationships it develops; the people it nurtures; and the business model it takes to market. In fact, they regularly provide the strategic levers that enable an organization to apply its intellectual property to successfully address its customers’ business needs.Although that assumption is valid in many ways, for the purposes of this blog post, let’s focus on how they might apply to the learning enterprise. Indeed, it’s important to note that the four other types of IC often affect the efficacy of the intellectual property used in L&D.Evaluating Your ICTake a moment to evaluate your intellectual capital—not just simply in place, but in well-oiled shape. How is your learning function using this intellectual capital to improve your business and compete in the marketplace? Do you have systems and processes that lend themselves to creating a positive--and even extraordinary--end-user (think: learner) experience?What’s more, what about your own staff? Are you applying best practices when selecting, developing, evaluating, and engaging L&D staff? These are the folks responsible for not only developing and administering your internal customer experience, but they also may be the face of your group in delivering your services to the business.How have you branded your group and its offer internally? How are you reaching out to your internal market? What is your core capability and how are you leveraging it? How effective are your relationships with your internal clients and external suppliers? Finally, how well is the L&D’s business model aligned with your organization’s overall strategy?Keep in mind that these are but a few of the issues and challenges that learning enterprises face Again, while the five types of intellectual capital apply to your greater organization, they also pertain to the subset of your talent development function.Hopefully, this series of blogs will shed some light on how to best leverage your current IC, while continuing to develop future strategic levers.

Steve Taylor

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