Business leaders now claim that geography is now irrelevant to their activities. Labor migrates freely, good do as well, and thus the lowest price for any good or service wins no matter where the bid comes from. Companies now spend millions on single orders over the internet, without a single person-to-person conversation. The only voices associated with most companies now are those of paid spokespeople and actors.

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.

That person deserves the best possible environment to perform his or her job, even if- especially if- that person comes from some other country; immigrants and guest workers are members of your company just like your other employees. They bring their own special strengths and weaknesses, and require close attention and mental coaching to maximize their productivity. Mental coaching is the best way to ensure that anyone from any background is truly part of your team, which is the most important part of human resource management today.

Although 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?

So while the world may well be "flat", it is still populated with human beings, and human beings don't perform at their peak potential without training and smart management. Companies are made up of people -- something that is as true during the reign of Bill Gates as it was during that of Rockefeller, the Internet notwithstanding.

Despite globalization and intensive use of technology in communications, people skills continue to remain relevant. And when the workplace has people from different cultures, mental coaching brings out the best from them. Immigrants and guest workers from other countries face special issues and hardships and they can become more productive if their employers address these concerns. Originally applied in sports and athletics, the concept of engaging mental coaches has spread to the corporate world as companies strive to maximize the value of their human resources. It is a vital ingredient in human resource management as it enables people to perform at their peak potential.