How a company manages its assets and resources is crucial to its overall success. Companies that spend financial resources senselessly risk finding themselves bankrupt. Companies that use capital resources beyond the machine's capabilities or for purposes other than intended are subject to downtime and/or lose equipment due to failure. The same premise applies to a company's human assets. However, unlike other business assets, which depreciate over time, human assets appreciate over time if managed correctly. The article, Importance of Human Resource Investment for Organizations and the Economy: A Critical Analysis, explains the importance of human resource management as follows: Organizations' other resources can be hired, retained and discarded at any time , but human resources need special treatment. He needs to be recruited carefully, deserves extra effort to retain him, and requires training and development to update and improve his skills. Other resources depreciate with the passage of time but as the human resource gains more and more experience, it becomes more beneficial to organizations. These characteristics have led human resources to be the central element for the success of an organization. (Mohammed, Bhatti, Jariko, & Zehri, 2013, p. 129, para. 2) In an effort to gain a practical understanding of the human resources field, I chose to interview the director of human resources for an organization in Miami, Florida. What I have learned goes far beyond any classroom or textbook instruction. It's clear; the field of HR will never be static, as society, technology and legal environments change, so will the field of HR. I recently had the op... middle of paper... that's quite an interesting statement to me, because I've never considered myself a bad listener. This interview process gave me a lot of insight into the HR field and gave me one more item to add to my bucket list…becoming a better listener. Works Cited Drug & Alcohol Rehab of Miami (2013). Retrieved October 20, 2013, from http://www.miami.rehabalcoholdrug.com/Rhodes, M. (2013, October 23). Personal interviewGesell, I.. (2010). How to be a leader when the generation gap becomes an everyday reality. The Journal for Quality and Participation, 32(4), 21-24. Retrieved October 23, 2013, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1961218601). Mohammed, J., Bhatti, M., Jariko, G., & Zehri, A. (2013). Importance of investments in human resources for organizations and the economy: a critical analysis. Journal of Management Sciences, 7(1), 127-133.