by Noriyuki Morimoto
I would like to consider two distinct hypothetical types of human talent. One is “debt talent,” who works under the debt of expectation. The other is “capital talent,” who works bearing the responsibility of freedom. What I call debt talent is actually the standard workforce of companies. Whether a new hire or a top-level executive, the basic duty for individuals in an organization is to fulfill the company’s expectations of them: to execute or achieve the specific duties assigned by the company.
Given that innovation is a discontinuous process with creative leaps, its drivers cannot be debt talent. Creation is born neither from external expectations nor organizational design. Creation always originates from something within the individual. The seeds of creation exist only within the individual’s free activity. This is why the freedom of “You Can Do Anything” is essential. It is this freedom that distinguishes the drivers of creation from debt talent—the ordinary corporate personnel—and defines them as capital talent.
For capital talent, a company is a place of free creation. But from the company’s standpoint, this place is an environment designed with the intention to induce creation. The company directly manages debt talent. But with capital talent, the company manages the environment in which they operate. The seeds of creativity are nurtured by the company to fuel its growth, and it is the debt talent who bears this responsibility. The function of capital talent lies at the origin of creativity.
Even if capital talent is told “You Can Do Anything,” this freedom cannot be unconditional or unlimited within a company. Conversely, debt talent also has a certain degree of freedom in terms of how to fulfill expectations. In corporate HR systems, alignment between the company’s expectations and individual voluntary goals is often simulated to elicit employee engagement or commitment to their duties. Indeed, it would be difficult to conceive of a work approach without any effort to exceed expectations, or spontaneous ingenuity, as a human way of life.
Promotion means increased expectations from corporate management. Greater expectations create more room for creative endeavors. However, even when expectations grow after promotion, debt talent does not turn into capital talent. The leap from debt to capital requires transcending mere degrees of difference. It involves a dimensional leap. The freedom of “You Can Do Anything” exists on an entirely different plane from the ingenuity exercised within normal discretionary limits.
[Category /Human Capital Investment]
Chief Executive Officer, HC Asset Management Co.,Ltd. Noriyuki Morimoto founded HC Asset Management in November 2002. As a pioneer investment consultant in Japan, he established the investment consulting business of Watson Wyatt K.K. (now Willis Towers Watson) in 1990.