If I had a dollar for every time I’ve asked the leader of a business or organization what their greatest asset was I probably wouldn’t care about a paycheck or the stock market anymore. 

If I had a half a dollar for every time they answered “my people” I’d be pretty well off too. 

A leader saying their people are their greatest asset is the easiest answer they can give. Showing that their people are their greatest asset is a completely different thing. 

If you were to watch a typical leader’s actions you would think their greatest asset was their computers or copiers. They typically spend more, way more, on their IT Department for example than they do in their training and employee development departments. In the vast majority of companies it’s 30-100% more. 

In most companies the investment allocated to grow their people is near the bottom on the list of budget allocations. 

So are your people your greatest asset? Does your budget reflect that? Are you consistently investing in your people or is that an investment that is too easy to cut when budgets get tight? 

When you stop and think about it you know investing in your people is the best investment you can make. The challenge for most leaders is that they don’t stop and think about it. They instinctively respond to the urgency of needing “things.” They forget the incredible importance of developing their people. 

I understand that other things seem important but they only help your people grow your business. “Things” alone don’t do much for you. Never forget that it’s your people who will grow your business not things.

Investing in anything without investing in your people is a lot like buying an excellent cut of meat without buying anything to cook it on. You could eat it raw but you would likely consider the meat a terrible purchase. 

Don’t only say your people are your greatest asset. Invest in their development and demonstrate that you mean it.