Brains have replaced brawn as the most vital corporate asset in today's knowledge-based economy, but too many companies still hire as though they're building motors as opposed to manipulating and managing information, says Jon Harvill of Professional Search of Atlanta.

"Companies that can't leverage their intellectual power to meet the demands of their markets and their customers are being squeezed," said Harvill. "Today's focus on intellectual value-added means that cookie-cutter approaches are out and customization is in."

Literally every business, especially those generating knowledge-based products or services, should make maximization of their intellectual might part of their corporate strategy. According to Harvill, there are four primary ways to do this:

1. Identify the intellectual assets within your organization. Just as companies closely track their hard assets -- like raw material inventories and manufacturing plants -- they should scrutinize their soft assets as well. Consider creating a "Brainpower Data Base" that identifies what your intellectual assets are, where they reside in the company, and how they can be tapped. This process will help companies use their brainpower more effectively and be more sensitive when it is being wasted or underutilized.
2. Build your intellectual capital -- don't just fill jobs. Attracting new employees who can use their knowledge and their intelligence to help the company grow has elevated the importance of effective hiring to a corporate strategy. Identifying these potential contributors should be a year-'round activity and should focus not just on candidates who have contacted your company, but also those who have not.
3. Enhance your intellectual assets. Employee training programs that teach employees to think, rather than just "do," can be invaluable as you increasingly become a knowledge-based organization. In addition to APICS certifications, consider non-traditional forms of training that stimulate the "entrepreneurship quotient" of employees.
4. Measure how knowledge adds to the value of your products or services. Of course, this is the proof of the pudding. Nothing will do more to raise awareness about the importance of intellectual capital in your organization. Consider creating a "Brainpower Balance Sheet" that in plain terms calculates the monetary value of your intellectual capital.

"Companies that have developed methods to measure, build and enhance their intellectual capital have found the key to producing products that have higher market value and, in the process, greater business success, " Harvill concluded.