We are always looking for more. The next or newest talent. Seeking outside of our Companies to look for the greatest People to add to our Teams. Those great People are out there. Once we have them though, what do we really do with them? What mould do we squish them into? 

What if those great People were already under our nose? What if it was a matter of moving the People we have, out of the moulds we crammed them into? What if we actually let the People we already hired flourish?
Consider how much more Value those same People could add to our Companies. 
It is like not checking the pantry before you got to the Store. You come home and realise that you already had 10 cans of corn in there! 

Examine how you employed the People within your Company. 
What process they went through? 
How you determined what Value they could bring and what Value you could offer in return?
What were the parameters that surrounded that Value? 
Did you ask them about their Talents? Their Skills. What is important to them. What ideas they have? 
How they could contribute what they do well to enrich themselves and the Company?
At what point did your Company's Goals intersect with theirs? How and why they have chosen to come work with you?
Would they be a Customer? 
Did you ask these kind of questions. Or did you employ people simply to fulfil the outline of a role and have no idea how much they could contribute to the Company's success?

Discovering the treasures that we have within our Companies, is not only an effective way of elevating our ability to succeed. It is an approach to elevate the way in which our People can succeed. This is the epitome of investing in our own Companies. There are millions of dollars invested in seeking talent from outside of Companies every year. The cost of cultivating existing Talent is much less and the pay off far greater. If you are a into placing bets, where would you rather put your money? On your horse or someone else's? 

The modern Company does more hiring than those historically. Overlooking internal assets to fill openings. To alleviate pressures that the very structure of our business has instigated to begin with. Employing People to merely fill job descriptions, not be their best selves. They may be more than capable of fulfilling those requirements, is the position really somewhere they could shine? 
There is always that one puzzle piece that could work in that spot early on and then as the picture comes more into focus. That piece throws the whole thing off.

When I was little, I remember having an innate sense of wanting to change the World. Back then I thought that meant becoming the Prime Minister of Australia. But with no growing disposition or passion for Politics, the Prime Minister's position was safe, laughs.
Instead, a childhood, an adolescence and an adulthood later, I Founded Nine Carat Business Consulting. And through the infant stages of this Business, I again reignited that childhood passion, to leave the World a better place than I found it.
It has amazed even me, the way in which the intention behind this Company has evolved and taken shape over its lifetime.

I always had a notion of what I was working towards, but no tangible, all encompassing concept that belied the endeavours I know are in its future. 

In this day and age we have set the precedent to search outside of our Business, to find someone to Invest in us. We thrive on the ideal, that if we just find that Investor, a source of money, expertise or experience, that our Business will somehow be successful. But is this really the way? And at what cost are we willing to relinquish what we have created to find this success?
Does the current mentality that one person simply cannot do it all, encourage us to sell out? To not back ourselves, our Teams, our ingenuity to find the resources or the avenues in which to excel without handing over our Business? 

The New Webster's Dictionary defines [busi*ness] n. ones regular employment, profession, occupation | ones personal affair, concern, duty | something requiring attention | active selling, transactions | a commercial firm or enterprise.
Ultimately, isn't Business far more complicated than this? Don't we have a much higher regard for the required investment into whichever Business we chose to be involved in?
We hinge our livelihoods on our Employment or our Company and we uphold a great deal of our Self Worth on our achievements, credentials and successes through Businesses and Careers. 
We as People are driven to begin, create or build Businesses to express or share our inspiration or ingenuity. Just as it is People, that choose to work within specific Businesses. It is People that form the Teams who are inspired to drive the Business and People who are the Market that interact with the Business that aligns with their needs as a Consumer. 
There in making Business a far more personal endeavour than just the mere turnover of transactions, numbers and Market definitions. Because in reality the core of Business is always People, it is an Economic and Marketable way in which we the People, can trade our loves, passions, skills, interests or continue generations of family investment and history.