The Hard Impact of the Soft Skills of Management

Abstract

Experience has clearly indicated the need to integrate the people functions of a business with its other operations, present and projected. As a starting place, management must ask itself “how big do we want this firm to be?” and “where will the necessary capital and people come from?”. There have been many articles written discussing the investment demanded by growth, the importance of cash flow and appropriate capital structure. However, the most widely overlooked factor in organizational planning is the people side of the business. It may make good conversation to discuss how the firm will grow to a figure of 1 million dollars, 5 million dollars or 100 million dollars in volume, but this is simply unrealistic thinking unless the issue of translating that volume into the types and numbers of people required is clearly addressed.