Human Capital - Baba Brinkman

I been on my grind, building up my company

Rap guide on the rise, somethin' to see

Just like every business, it started with a vision

But winnin' the competition wasn’t just a solo mission

No, I had schemes and revenue streams

But to achieve great things you need a dream team

So, I recruited England’s sickest producer

Mr. Simmonds with the illest skills on a computer

We made some rap guides, reduced the nonsense

In the content, it was just proof of concept

Pretty soon we had a long back-catalogue

With the orders comin' in, just a mad backlog

Time to get some fresh blood, tap the talent pool

A bunch of young rappin' brainiacs with attitude

A business has to feel like a family group

It’s only worth as much as its human capital

Human capital, it’s tough to quantify

But without it your business will not survive

Human capital, it’s tough to quantify

You gotta offer people more than just a nine to five

How did I get to be the master of this industry?

Mr. Infomatic?

Happiness delivery

You gotta spread love, the top is a lonely place

Peace to Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh

Forget the old way, where the realm of business

Was synonymous with the realm of narrow self-interest

We need to reach consensus, breach defenses

And seek the best of each employees' unique perspective

That’s a corporate policy that’s worth acknowledging

It’s something we’ve been polishing since before the Holocene

Humans are social primates with tribal roots

We thrive in groups to survive and reproduce

Which means gossip and reputation maintain

The invisible fabric of status in the blame game

And the praise game, two sides of the same thing

Just ask Bernie Madoff if he wants a name change

It’s human capital, it’s tough to quantify

But without it your business will not survive

Human capital, it’s tough to quantify

You gotta offer people more than just a nine to five

Whatever industry you’re in, whatever occupation

You need to learn about the science of cooperation

Don’t let the insights of evolution evade you

Especially human behavior, including consumer behavior

Reciprocal exchanges are the most typical arrangements

But individual differences change things

The division of labor needs to be delegated

Internally, within firms, not in the yellow pages

Interns get promoted when they begin to earn

And then recruit their own interns, in turn

While the free market chooses between firms

Usually, some banks get bankruptcy insurance

That’s crazy, that’s when the state needs to regulate hard

That is, unless you want grenades in K-Mart

Fair play starts with the question: who’s interested?

Citizens, families, employees, businesses

That’s human capital, it’s tough to quantify

But without it your business will not survive

Human capital, it’s tough to quantify

You gotta offer people more than just a nine to five