Everyone involved in running a business from the smallest start-up to a major corporate dreams about how to achieve sustained profitable growth. I'm a great believer that business is simple - it's only us human beings that make it complex. If you simplify business, and that is best done in my experience by "getting up in the helicopter" and looking at the big picture, it is remarkable how much you can see!

I recently researched CEOs and I asked them one question:

"What is the biggest challenge to achieving sustained profitable growth in your business"?

37% responded that their single biggest challenge was people - the recruitment, retention and motivation of people.

Why did that not surprise me? Well I often find that we are so myopic and stuck with our traditions that we lose sight of the big picture - and the need to keep it simple.

In recruitment for example I still find a many companies, small and large, that rely on an interview, or maybe a couple of interviews, to select new employees. It is generally recognised that by using this method we get it right just two out of five times. Would we live with that success rate in any other part of our business?