The time has come to practically elevate the investment in personal and organizational development to a strategic level in organizations. Years ago, we assigned strategic value to the deployment and leadership of financial capital and systems in organizations through the creation of a Chief Financial Officer.

What is becoming consistently clear in the midst of rising complexity is the need for everyone in the organization to have a development plan linked to ongoing organizational alignment and profitability. Time and resources must be allocated to personal and professional development just like they are allocated to "hard" systems. It is clear that development must be separated from performance in terms of evaluation and appraisal—using performance to provide an indicator of developmental progress and resultant capability. Leverage in a world where information is transparent and access is global will come from the development of human capital—a domain of increasing returns--not the margins on financial capital where only diminishing returns are more the rule. Most companies will state, "our employees are our greatest asset’, but very few follow through in that regard.

A coaching culture created and led from a strategic leadership point of view by a Chief Coaching Officer is able to connect, clarify and commit people and systems to right action. Today more than ever, organizations need alignment between what really matters—and right action—to create right results. It can no longer be done through a single perspective. It must be done through integrated multiple strategic perspectives.  The agility to move quickly and smartly forward--profitably--with emotional competence in light of business realities will define the price-maker of the future.