The Human Capital Dilemma: Are businesses their own worst enemy?

Amid pandemic-era upheavals, AI disruption, and shifting generational values, the world of work stands at a precipice. Corporate leaders and HR professionals alike now grapple with a barrage of existential questions: Why are investments in learning and development (L&D) failing to deliver meaningful outcomes? Why do so many technology solutions promise transformation but leave organisations stranded at square one? 

And, perhaps most urgently, why do companies still cling to outdated models of assessing and deploying talent in a world where human capability is more valuable, yet more misunderstood than ever?

Aakash Choubey, a former corporate lawyer and now Founder and CEO of Becoming Quotient (BQ), is at the centre of this storm. In conversation with People Matters, he offers a candid, sometimes uncomfortable, industry perspective that challenges prevailing assumptions and points to a future where data ownership, middle management, and genuine human potential take centre stage.

Corporate L&D, Choubey asserts, is in crisis. "We are investing millions, sometimes billions, but most programmes are little more than box-ticking exercises. Certifications rarely translate into real-world capability, and the return on investment is, at best, vague."

He points to a cycle where L&D teams, vendors, and even CFOs all have incentives to keep the system ambiguous. "If the impact of a programme can’t be audited, budgets are easier to protect. The ambiguity serves everyone, except the employee and, ultimately, the business."

Choubey traces the problem to a fundamental accounting flaw. "Human capital is still treated as an expense rather than an asset. Our balance sheets are relics of the industrial era, built for a world of tangible goods, not intangible capabilities. The result is a broken equilibrium where investment in people is the first to be cut, and the last to be measured."

He offers a provocative analogy: "In the 1980s, the S&P 500 was made up of 80% tangible assets. Today, it’s over 90% intangible – intellectual property, brand, and crucially, human capability. Yet we have no asset register, no accepted valuation method for people. Until organisations treat human capability as a capital project with clear success criteria and honest attribution, L&D will remain a faith-based expense."

The last decade has seen an explosion of HR technologies, each promising to streamline talent, learning, and onboarding. But most leaders, Choubey says, find themselves frustrated. "Vendors promise the world, but when the dust settles, data is fragmented, systems don’t talk to each other, and nothing really changes."

He believes the heart of the failure is trust. "Employer-push systems are inherently suspect. Employees are more willing to trust OpenAI with their data than their own company’s chatbot. There’s a deep suspicion that employer-owned tech is about control, not empowerment."

For Choubey, the real solution lies in giving employees agency over both their data and their development. "Until people believe that the system is designed for their benefit, not just the company’s, you’ll never have honest data, or real engagement."

Perhaps no group better illustrates the crisis of corporate talent than middle managers. Once the backbone of delivery and culture, they are now, Choubey argues, the most squeezed cohort in the modern organisation. "They have the responsibility, but not the power. They manage delivery, coordinate across silos, and absorb the emotional toll of transformation – but get little support, autonomy, or bespoke development."

He describes an alarming trend: "Engagement premiums for middle managers are collapsing. Many are actively turning down promotions, seeing them as a path to burnout, not advancement. Post-COVID, the apprenticeship model has broken down, and investment in development is increasingly polarised – focused on the C-suite or new graduates, with the middle left to stagnate."

Choubey believes organisations ignore this layer at their peril: "Middle managers have 60-70% of the influence on culture and retention. People don’t leave companies, they leave managers. If we don’t invest in tailored, real-time support for this group, the whole system suffers."

Despite the rise of AI, automation, and skills decay, most organisations still rely on the humble CV when making hiring decisions. Choubey shakes his head. "The CV is a fossil. Degrees and skills are points in time; they decay rapidly. What matters is verified capability – resilience, influence, adaptability. The world is moving toward digital, cryptographically secure learning and employment records."

He points to the US-led Learning and Employment Records (LER) movement as a harbinger of change. "Soon, your unique capabilities will travel with you, verified and portable – not just a list of jobs and degrees, but a living record of what you can actually do."

Perhaps the most damning indictment Choubey offers is organisations’ inability to see – and leverage – their own talent. "There is a blindness to lateral capability. Companies pay a premium for external hires, who often underperform and leave sooner, while internal talent goes untapped. The biggest waste in a company’s P&L isn’t a software subscription, it’s the missed opportunity of internal growth."

He cites research: "Laterals are paid 15-20% more, perform worse, and are twice as likely to leave as internal candidates. Yet we persist with the same old models, because we lack the instruments to measure, record, and deploy human capability."

Choubey believes these industry challenges point to a single, radical solution: granting employees ownership and agency over their own data. "Just as we now expect portability and transparency in banking or healthcare, employees must have access to their full development record. Not just a paycheque or a rating, but the underlying data that drives their growth."

He acknowledges the resistance: "Leaders are divided. Some see the wisdom of giving up notional ownership of data they never use. Others fear the complexity and loss of control. But the direction is clear. As AI commoditises technical skills, the human premium – the ability to build teams, handle ambiguity, lead through change – will only become more valuable."

Against this turbulent backdrop, Choubey founded BQ. The company’s thesis is both radical and simple: "Anything good for the employee is more than likely to be good for the organisation."

Choubey’s vision for BQ is to place the individual, not the enterprise, at the centre of talent development. 

"We’re building a platform where employees own their data, gain insights from coaching and psychometrics, and build a portable passport of their unique capabilities. The goal is lifelong portability – a record that travels with you, empowering you to take control of your own growth."

It’s a tough sell in a world where companies are used to holding tight to every scrap of employee data. But as privacy laws evolve and the demand for transparency grows, Choubey believes BQ’s model is inevitable: "Five or ten years from now, this will be mainstream. We are just ahead of the curve."

Investors are already taking notice. BQ is backed by senior investment professionals from several leading global private equity firms – all convinced that the future of work depends on unlocking human potential at scale

As a member of the People Matters Content Advisory Council, Choubey is pushing for more honest, actionable conversations about the future of HR. "Everyone is talking about AI, but what will differentiate companies is their investment in human capability – the ability to lead, to influence, to navigate complexity."

He points to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report, which identifies leadership and social influence as the most in-demand skills in the coming years. "The uncomfortable truth is that most organisations are actively undermining human capability, even as the world demands more of it."

For Choubey, the answer is clear: "Organisations must stop treating people as expenses and start seeing them as their most valuable, measurable assets. Technology is only as good as the trust and agency it enables. The companies that win will be those that unlock, honour, and invest in the unique promise of their people."

As the world races toward an automated, data-rich future, the human quotient will define the next chapter of business.