Human Capital Wars

Microsoft hates Google apparently. Why? Probably because the upstart technology company is rocking the boat. Google is investing a lot of cash in developing the technology of the future and Microsoft is clearly rattled. Google are even developing an operating system - albeit a very different one. The following comes from Jason Kottke:

"They have this huge map of the Web and are aware of how people move around in the virtual space it represents. They have the perfect place to store this map (one of the world's largest computers that's all but incapable of crashing). And they are clever at reading this map. Google knows what people write about, what they search for, what they shop for, they know who wants to advertise and how effective those advertisements are, and they're about to know how we communicate with friends and loved ones. What can they do with all that? Just about anything that a collection of Ph.Ds can dream up."

Clearly Microsoft won't just sit idly around while Google are working towards world domination but one of their immediate short term concerns is the fact that Google are attracting some of the best people in the technology buisness. Worse still, some of those people are Microsoft employees. Microsoft is pursuing variety of law suits as a spoiling tactic - relying primarily on employee contractual agreements not to work for competitors within a specified time period (often 12 months).

According to Paul Saffo a Silicon Valley technology commentator:

''Google and Microsoft are locked in a brain race to see who can hire the biggest brains on the planet."

This war for  human capital is a feature of our knowledge economy. No matter how many knowledge bases or KM tools we put in place the really valuable knowledge will continue to reside in people's heads. When I talk to clients about KM and intellectual capital I sometimes ask them the following question:

What damage would be done to your business if the five most knowledgeable people left today?

Some businesses struggle to actually identify these five people - though in practice it isn't as difficult as they think. A friend of mine is a 'recruitment research consultant' and he is an expert at identifying who knows what - then tempting them to jump ship and work for the competition. Identifying the knowledge 'hotspots' in your business isn't that difficult - and if you don't do it then the chances are your competion might do it for you - and as they say;  'You never know how valuable someone is until they've gone'.