Executives say that people are their most important asset, but most don’t walk the talk. They don’t have systematic strategies for how to get the people they want to want them. They don’t have measures and metrics for how they are doing to be the employer of choice. They don’t hold leaders accountable regarding those ambitions. In many cases, this is because top leaders don’t have concrete tools to help them do what they know they should.

This book fills that gap in three major sections. The first section supports with clear and compelling data what executives intuitively but somewhat superficially believe—that people are their most important asset. The second section provides a systematic process and set of tools to help leaders get the people they want to want them; it shows executives how to win the competition for human capital. The third section then helps leaders position people appropriately so that they can create a sustainable competitive advantage; its shows executives how to compete with human capital.

When it comes to human capital, most books get it wrong. Strategy books place human capital to the side as an enabler of competitive advantage. HR books treat human capital as a support activity to business strategy. This book places human capital where it should be—not to the side and not as an enabler or a support activity, but at the center and as the source of competitive advantage.