Today's most vocal business leaders are emphasizing that "the world is flat," that labor moves freely, and that the lowest price, whether it's from Atlanta or Argentina, always wins. Million dollar orders can be placed online without so much as speaking to a live person, and the "faces" of corporate communications are increasingly those of models or paid spokespersons rather than real business leaders.



So in a world in which you will receive hundreds of job applications from all around the world for every publicly announced opening, how relevant are people skills? Very much so. People still design products, build websites, create advertisements, and communicate with each other to coordinate these efforts.

And that person needs a proper environment in which to perform his or her job, not "even if" but "especially if" that person was born and raised somewhere else. Immigrants and guest workers are as much members of the corporate world as anyone else, but their special issues and hardships need close attention to bring out the most in them, and that means mental coaching. Mental coaching is an excellent way of bringing someone from a different culture into the team 100%, and it is one of the most important functions of today's human resource management.

While mental coaches, such as Dr. John F. Murray, who developed "Mental Performance Index" for American football (and proceeded to help Vincent Spadea overcome a losing streak that was one of the longest in the history of tennis), might be associated with professional sports, outdoor sales-people, or CEO's, the truth is that mental coaching is relevant from the highest to the lowest rung of the corporate ladder.

It costs a company tens of thousands of dollars to hire and train even a mid-level employee. Given the level of investment required to bring people in, shouldn't you do everything you can to maximize their value? Mental coaches help most professional athletes, so why can't they be effective in aiding your business professionals?

While the world may well have become metaphorically "flat," it is still populated with human beings -- and human beings don't perform up to peak potential without training and intelligent management.