186 50 TOPEXECUTIVECOACHES
Bruce Pfau
F
or more than 20 years, I’ve worked with groups of executives at some of
the world’s largest companies to undertake significant organizational
improvements and culture changes. These goals have become increasingly
more challenging in recent years amidst a wave of increased competition, an
uncertain economic climate, and an intense level of accountability for man-
agement. Throughout my experiences coaching leaders, I’ve learned that one
ofthe most important things an organization can do to elicit change is tap
into its most valuable asset—its people.
Organizations seek change for a variety of reasons—to improve operating
ef ficiencies, boost morale, spur growth, or facilitate integration. Ultimately,
this is all to create financial value. My work centers on human capital man-
agement, which, at its core, leverages the skills, talents, and creativity of a
workforce to create high-performance organizations.
When I partner with a team of executives to help them successfully bring
about change, my goal is to get them to recognize the importance of human
capital, and harness its inherent value. One of the most effective ways I’ve
been able to demonstrate the critical role of human capital (and its effect on
change) is to emphasize its impact on the bottom line.
In 1999, I led a groundbreaking Watson Wyatt study, the Human Capital
Index® (HCI), which did just that. The HCI study confirmed a positive cor-
relation between the quality of a company’s HR practices and its economic
results. We developed a simple set of measures quantifying exactly which
practices and policies had the greatest correlation to shareholder value.
Using those to assign a single HCI score to each surveyed company allowedDr. Bruce Pfau recently joined KPMG LLP as Vice
Chair—Human Resources. Prior to that, he was National
Practice Director of Organization Effectiveness at Wat-
son Wyatt Worldwide and is an internationally recognized
expert in the areas of employee motivation, corporate cul-
ture change, and organization measurement. He has writ-
ten and spoken extensively on aligning human resources
practices and business performance. Dr. Pfau has made
numerous contributions to professional journals; has been quoted in the Wa l l
Street Journal,the New York Times, BusinessWeek,and For tune;and has been an
invited speaker for various organizations, including The Conference Board,
BusinessWeek Executive Programs, The Business Roundtable, SHRM, and the
HR Planning Society. Dr. Pfau can be reached by phone at (201) 307-8333 or by
e-mail at [email protected].