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Writer's pictureJim Charkins

2: Human Capital

Updated: Jun 13



Human Capital: The combination of skills, knowledge, experience and personal qualities that help to achieve goals


Principle 3: Skills, knowledge, experience, and personal qualities (human capital) influence the ability to achieve goals


You are the most important resource this economy has.

“If you want to know how much money you will have, look in a mirror.”


Objectives:

  • Define human capital as skills, knowledge, experience and personal qualities that will help you achieve your goals

  • Identify hard skills and soft skills

  • Recognize the links between school, human capital, job/career/entrepreneurial opportunities, income/profit, and goals


Why do you want to learn this?  Discover where your true power lies

It is time for you to take a serious look at your goals. What do you want from life? Do you want a family, children, pets? Will you have adequate transportation to get to work? Will you have sufficient income to provide for your family, pay the rent or make the house payment, put food on the table, buy appropriate clothing, and on and on? Do you want to get up in the morning excited about the day ahead? Do you want a job/career that is both challenging and rewarding? In terms of a job/career, do you want to work outside or is inside? Do you want to be able to work from home? Your human capital (skills, knowledge, experience and personal qualities) will have a major influence on your ability to achieve those goals. The choices that you are making today concerning your human capital are determining your future. Your human capital is your key to success in achieving your goals. 


What Human Capital?

Probably the most important and necessary skill is the ability and willingness to learn. No one can tell what specific skills will be required in the next ten years but there is no doubt that you will have to continue learning throughout your life. Some of the “hard” skills that you will require include the following. 


  • You will have to have basic skills such as reading, writing, listening and speaking. 

  • Can you make reasoned, well-informed decisions? 

  • Do you use your most important resource (your human capital) wisely? 

  • Rather than complain about systems (like the way your econ class runs, or school rules, or family rules, or the state and national political systems) do you understand those rules and find ways to work within them, improve them, or change them? 

  • When you talk about things at school or at home, do you speak off the top of your head, or do you collect information before you make your point? 

  • Are you willing to listen to others when they present their facts? Can you tell the difference between facts and “stories?” 

  • Are you up to date on the latest technologies and are you willing to learn new ones? 

  • Can you use the latest technology to collect, organize, present facts, and organize those facts into effective and balanced arguments? 


Then there are the “soft” skills, those skills that have more to do with your personal qualities. 

  • Are you honest, hardworking, respectful, and self-motivated? 

  • Can you be trusted? 

  • Are you on time? 

  • Do you dress appropriately? 

  • Do you monitor your personal hygiene? 

  • Do you take responsibility for your actions rather than making excuses? 

  • Do you have a strong work ethic as opposed to trying to get out of unpleasant tasks?


  • Do you take the initiative; when you see a problem or an opportunity, do you choose to act on it? 

  • Do you work well with others; are you a team player? Do you help others succeed? Do you get along well with people who don’t look like you, who may be from a different part of the world, or another neighborhood? Are you kind to people who might not be as talented or good looking or popular as you? Do you try to make others feel comfortable in your group? 

This is a lot to consider but these skills will lead to success in achieving your goals. The figure below summarizes the connection between human capital and success in achieving your goals.


School →  human capital job/career/entrepreneurial opportunities income/ profit           goals


The importance of school or training in developing your human capital which allows you to get a job, secure a career, or run your own business in order to earn an income or a profit to achieve your goals is incontestable. See the facts below. 

  • The difference in lifetime earnings between a high school dropout and a college graduate is $1 million. 

  • The unemployment rate of high school dropouts is 3 times that of college graduates. 

  • The percentage of high school dropouts living in poverty is 8.5 times that of college grads. 

  • The incarceration rate of high school dropouts is 60 times that of college grads.


Bottom Line: If you want to achieve your goals, graduate from high school and pursue additional education and/or training to develop your human capital. Your future depends on you. How will you use you today to strengthen your human capital?


How does the connection between school and achievement of your goals explained in the diagram above apply to you? What are your goals and how do you plan to follow the diagram above to reach those goals? 


1. For whom are you in school?

b. Your mother/father/other adult at home

c. Your teacher

d. Your principal


2. Your purpose in school is to:

a. Have fun with your friends

b. Develop your human capital

c. Pass a bunch of tests

d. Kill time 

 

3. Which of the following is likely to have the highest lifetime income?

a. High school dropout

b. High school graduate

c. Two year college graduate

d. Four year college graduate or skilled/trained worker


4. Which of the following is most likely to live in poverty and be incarcerated?

a. High school dropout

b. High school graduate

c. Two year college graduate

d. Four year college graduate or skilled/trained worker



Skills for Success in the 21st Century Global Economy Self-Analysis


Rank yourself in each of the following categories – That skill area where you are best will receive a “1”, that skill area in which you are weakest will receive a “15”. Choose two of the skills where your score is relatively low and sketch a plan for improving those skills. 


Basic Skills: Reading, writing, math, science, listening, speaking 


Thinking skills: learning, reasoning, problem solving, critical, creative, systematic thinking


Learning skills: using tools (e-learning, time managers, collaboration tools) to enhance productivity and personal development


21st century content: languages, art, math, econ, science, geography, history, government, civics, global awareness, financial, business, and civic literacy, health literacy, and environmental literacy.


Using resources: planning, organizing, budgeting, monitoring, assessing, evaluating, and adjusting


Understanding systems: "How is it supposed to work, how does it work, how can we improve it?"


Using technology: access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create, and communicate information

Soft Skills 


Attitude: Positive and upbeat


Humility: Refrain from telling people how good you are (except in a job interview!)


Kindness: Treat others with respect, help wherever possible


Time: Be early to work


Personal hygiene


Appropriate dress


Responsibility: results, not excuses


Cooperation: team effort and team attitude


The customer: Who are your customers? They are your number 1 priority…always.


Work ethic: Are you motivated to do the best work at every task you are assigned? 

Human Capital Inventory 

Complete the table below:

Skills

What can I do? What skills do I have that will help me achieve my goals? 


Knowledge

What do I know that will help me achieve my goals?


Experience

What have I done that contributes to my human capital? 


Personal qualities

What characteristics do I have that help me achieve my goals? 

Think soft skills. 


Plan for Improvement


Write specific ways in which you are going to improve in two areas where you are weakest. 


Category __________ Beginning Date _____________

Plan:



Category __________ Beginning Date _____________

Plan:


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