Human Race Horses

Oliver Bell, Inc. to Sponsor Winter Meeting of the Texas Labor and Employee Relations Consortium on February 16, 2012. Meeting Hosted by CenterPoint Energy in Houston.

2012-02-01T08:17:00.000-05:00

Oliver Bell, Inc. to Sponsor Winter Meeting of the Texas Labor and Employee Relations Consortium on February 16, 2012. Meeting Hosted by CenterPoint Energy in Houston.

Grand-kids and me

2011-12-23T20:29:00.000-05:00

Michael VanDervort at #hrfl10

2010-09-04T10:18:00.001-04:00

IMG_0813, originally uploaded by Voice of HR.

Visiting the Voice of HR booth to send out the attendee list for the #MonsterSocial tweetup.

photo by @lruettimann

New Home for the Human Race Horses Blog

2009-11-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Image by h.koppdelaney via Flickr

Human Race Horses has a new home!

You were probably directed here via a google search. Our entire content has been moved, although many older articles can still be found here.

Thanks for visiting here, check out the new site over at The Human Race Horses Blog

Effective August 8, 2009, the location for the Human Race Horses blog can be found at a new URL location.

Please click here to be directed to our new location.

The Carnival of HR: an anthology of workplace advice

2009-11-29T08:18:00.003-05:00

The Carnival of HR: an anthology of workplace advice

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The Carnival of HR: an anthology of workplace advice

2009-11-29T08:18:00.001-05:00

The Carnival of HR: an anthology of workplace advice

Posted using ShareThis

Thoughts from Training Time: Carnival of HR comes to town

2009-08-20T05:56:00.000-04:00

Thoughts from Training Time: Carnival of HR comes to town

reBlog from Francinehardaway: Francine Hardaway’s Blog

2009-08-15T21:25:00.001-04:00

I found this fascinating quote today:

I was with the conservatives on this issue. I didn’t want us to bail out the banks. But we did, because we thought the system would collapse if we didn’t. OK. So we put off the collapse for two years, but–my fellow Americans — while you are all worrying about death panels and tax-supported abortions, don’t take your eye off the world around you. Multi-task if you can.Francinehardaway, Francine Hardaway’s Blog, Aug 2009

You should read the whole article.

What the F is Social Media? 2009 update

2009-08-08T14:46:00.002-04:00

An update to the wildly popular slide deck "What the fuck is Social Media?". This is an update one year after the original from July 2009. Enjoy!

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Jacquelyn Corbett cyr.

Sell your job skills with three words

2009-08-08T11:02:00.001-04:00

Describe yourself in 3 words Image source: Zebrabites.com

Sum up yourself and your skills in three words.

This strategy can be very useful in preparing yourself for upcoming job interviews. Colin Beveridge, a UK management adviser suggests that doing so can be a powerful exercise in critical self-evaluation.

Beveridge suggests that before heading into a job interview, you should take the necessary time and come up with a short three word description of what exactly it is that you do in your work life.

So perhaps we should substitute a new interview question: please describe what you do in three words…
.....incredibly valuable for the reflective insights and communicative skills that a properly considered answer will reveal.

Here are some examples of good 3 word self evaluations.

Help people think (Beveridge)
Make information useful (Mine)
Honestly Simplify Business
I think differently
Nanotech information conduit
Evaluate, Encourage, & Execute

What would your three word summary look like?

Why ask why

2009-08-06T21:13:00.004-04:00

Image by ASurroca via Flickr

A guest post from Shameka Jiles, a student at RIT in the the class of Steve Boese.

I recently shadowed a manager of a company that I will leave unknown.

While with him I sat in on a coaching where I question was his approach effective, would like to know your opinion. The employee was fairly new to the position and handled a request from a guest to hold a television that was on sale for two days only for 72 hours.

Policy of the company is only a 24 hour hold is allowed and only for regular priced items. The employee told the guest she could put the TV on hold and the guest left to only come back 3 days later and the TV being gone.

During the coaching there was a lot of the use “why” “why did you do it”? “Why did you think it was policy”? I

felt like asking these questions was not going to get to the bottom line because obviously the employee did not know these answers. In my opinion the better way to approach the coaching would be to advice the employee of the policy and make sure she understood for the future.

What do you guys think?

HR peeps, share your thoughts with Steve B.'s student. What should this manager have done to improve the coaching?

Coaching tips by phone

2009-08-06T07:22:00.004-04:00

The following coaching may be true.

Names have been omitted to protect the guilty!

My manager didn't like the fact that I made an announcement over the PA.

He told me that the next time I use the PA system like that, he will shove the receiver so far up my ~~ass~~ rear end that the next person who calls in will be talking to the ham sandwich that I had for lunch.

He knows how to make a point!

Photo source

Don't be tweetaphobic!

2009-08-03T11:42:00.003-04:00

What's a tweetup and why would you want to be at the HR Florida tweetup?

Twitter meetups, or Tweetups as they’re commonly called, are the best way to extend your conenctions on twitter into real life networking. They are also a great way to see how twitter works if you are suffering from "tweetaphobia"!

Why? Because you are able to gather with online friends, meet new contacts to enhance your career, and have a few drinks. What self-respecting HR person wouldn't want to do that?

So whether you are currently tweeting or not, c'mon out to the HR Florida Tuesday Tweetup.

Here is the Attendee List so far!

Mark Addington
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Melyssa Bernstein
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Barry Brown
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Joyce Chastain
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Carrie Cherveny
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Mark Christensen
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Traci Deveai
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Traci Deveau
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Kris Dunn
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Stephen Geraghty-Harrison
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Lori Goldmsmith
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Deborah Herman
Tickets Ordered: 2 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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jessica lee
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Michael Long
Tickets Ordered: 2 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Carol McDaniel
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Carolyn Moore
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Elizabeth Panza
Tickets Ordered: 2 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Laura Rhoad
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Mary Richards
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Laurie Ruettimann
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Mike Temkin
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Christina Tierney
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Michael VanDervort
Tickets Ordered: 1 HR Florida Tweetup Ticket

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Cartoon source: here

Walmart's Circular Logic and the impact on Canada (humor)

2009-08-03T06:26:00.002-04:00

Marijuana: Government, Taxes, Corruption and the Workplace

2009-08-02T18:09:00.007-04:00

Image by dutchamsterdam.nl via Flickr

There is a lot of discussion going about the relative merits of legalizing marijuana in the United States. The implications of such a decision are far reaching, even into the workplace. Hiring practices for many US employers would be affected. Legal rights versus company policy would be tested. It makes for some interesting potential issues.

One side argues that doing so would save billions of tax dollars that have been spent in the the war on drugs and provide a new tax revenue stream of federal and state taxes once pot was regulated. San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has introduced a bill to the legislature that would legalize marijuana and regulate and tax its sale much the same as we do alcohol and cigarettes.

The other side argues that to do so would result in the ruination of the United States of America. Bill O'Reilly recently rebutted pro-legalization talk on his show by discussing the practices of the "Most liberal country in Europe", the Netherlands claiming that the laws on drugs and legalized prostitution have made Amsterdam a "cesspool of corruption".

Now a citizen of Amsterdam has used YouTube to push back on O'Reilly's claim.

Most people know that the Fox channel isn't the most objective news source on American TV. But in a pretty recent broadcast Amsterdam is so falsely portrayed as a city of crime, drugs and anarchy, that I had to show the facts.

Check out the video, and then leave your thoughts on how the legalization of marijuana might impact the workplace in the United States and the HR profession. I'd be really curious to hear comments from Dutch HR professionals on what issues they face, if any!

2009-08-02T14:26:00.000-04:00

Todd and Sarah Palin to divorce

2009-08-01T15:52:00.001-04:00

So much for leadership, family values and thick skin!

Todd and Sarah Palin to divorce

Sarah Palin on "hurt feelings" from Dennis Zaki on Vimeo.

Shared via AddThis

Dammit Jim, I'm a recruiter, not a referee!

2009-07-31T11:47:00.001-04:00

Recruiting Fouls

This was originally posted on Cruiter Talk, a great blog written by Ryan Leary.

Recruiting is a not exactly a sport. Some candidates seem to think it is a game.

Not to oversimplify a highly valuable skill, but one of the basic keys to the recruiting process is knowing traits you are looking for in a candidate. Some recruiters seem to have been born with a deeply ingrained innate talent for identifying great candidates. Others depend on measurement tools and background checks to help them ferret out the weaker links.

Personally I have a list of traits that I look for that act as my first set of indicators.

Innovation

Ethical

Creative

Communicator

Leadership

And then there are those times when someone makes an impression that just sort of hits you like an elbow to the jaw. Sometimes this is a good impression, and that will set me scrambling to get an offer letter ready on the spot. Most of the time it is more like the kind of elbows that get thrown in basketball or hockey games. These are the kind of elbows that make referees call fouls in NBA.

When I see these kind of recruiting fouls, I send my candidate directly for the showers. Here are a few examples of these types of recruiting fouls that I have run into,a s well as the traits they failed to demonstrate.

Conviction

In year one of my HR career, my immediate supervisor came to me and asked me how I felt about hiring someone with a criminal background. My response was unenthusiastic.

After some vociferous discussion just six months into my stint at this company, I came away with instructions to hire a certain candidate that had cleaned up his act while in prison and just needed an opportunity. I reluctantly complied and started this guy a week later. In the interview, he admitted to a number of past behavior problems that culminated in his going to prison for theft.

He worked 3 hours before walking off the job without notice. He actually scaled a fence behind the facility to get away without coming past security, leaving behind a slightly worn pair of safety shoes he had purchased from our payroll office by signing up for payroll deduction that morning.

He called me back two days later to tell me he was ready to return to work. Ref's call on this one: Banned for life

Commitment

I was trying to fill an hourly operator position that required a fairly high level of technical skill and was having no luck. But then Kelly walked in the door with an unsolicited resume, fitting all of the background requirements, skills AND he was available immediately. I jumped through hoops on the spot: pulling together an interview team, getting a physical and drug test done, and extending the offer that afternoon. He passed the tests and reported for orientation. We put him into SAP, ordered uniforms, and took care of everything I needed done for him to start the following Monday. This was especially important since I was traveling.

Monday comes, and Kelly is a know show, no call. Frick!

But it gets better. Two weeks later, I get a call from a temporary staffing agency raving about this great candidate they found for my still open position. I get excited until they start with the resume. Me: "Is this dude named Kelly?" Them: ??? Me: Foul! Banned for life!

Creativity

While working in Michigan, a candidate visits my office several times looking for a job. I keep telling him we don't have any openings. He finally comes in one day when there is the potential for openings, but our company policy is that all job referrals must come through the Michigan Department of Unemployment referrals. I explain that he should go down there and talk to them. He leaves. He returns the next day wearing a t-shirt that has a very vulgar message on it and hands me an envelope. Confused, I open the envelope and see ten $20 dollar bills. His question: "Will that get me past that referral thing?" Me: Foul! Banned for life!

Same company, same time, different dude. Me: "We don't currently have any openings." Him: "If you promise to hire me, I'll tell you the name of a guy who is stealing from your warehouse. That should make an opening, right?" Me: sputter, ummm, Foul!

Assertive

Several months after an acquisition, the decision is made to remove a very senior employee from a key position. I meet with her and her manager, offer her severance and send her on her way, seemingly okay with the events. The manager and I then meet with her only subordinate, explaining to her that we hope she will stay on and that we are planning to come up with a salary enhancement and promotion once we resolved some organizational reporting issues. I confirm that I will get back to her the next day. She nods pleasantly and we go our separate ways.

I leave the building and begin my two and one half hour drive home, participating in a conference call during the drive. Call ends about 50 miles down the road and I hang up, getting a voice mail message. I dial voice mail and get this something like this: "Hi, this is the person you just told you would be giving a raise and a promotion to. Today is Tuesday, we run payroll on Thursday. Unless I have an employment contract by tomorrow paying me X and guaranteeing X and X, I am not going to run payroll this week. " Me: &T*&%*&^!!! (screeching brakes and a rapid u-turn)

Dialing CFO: If I fire the entire payroll department here today, can we pay these folks Thursday? Him: *&&^*^$#!!!! (yes! i hope....do it)

Ref's call: Clean out your locker, you have been given your unconditional release!

(I actually said something like "pack your Sh*t and get out. You are fired for insubordination!")

HR Director needed, no HR skills required!

2009-07-30T21:06:00.005-04:00

Image by Renegade98 via Flickr

Workforce is reporting a change in top leadership at the new General Motors. According to at least one analyst, the fact that GM appointed a non-HR professional to head the function is a good move for GM.

Possibly not so hot for the HR profession? What do you think?

General Motors head of human resources and longtime executive Katy Barclay is stepping down, the automaker said Thursday, July 30. She will be replaced by Mary Barra, a top executive with an engineering background who worked closely with former GM chief executive Rick Wagoner.

“She is one of the same senior leaders who is responsible for the destruction of the company,” said Rob Kleinbaum, managing director of auto industry consulting firm Rak & Co. “She is responsible for it and should be accountable for it.”

The retirement of Barclay, 53, who has been vice president of global human resources since 1998, was seen as long overdue. According to a 2005 article published in Automotive News (a sister publication of Workforce Management), Barclay said her first automotive job was as a human resources professional at GM in 1978.

” Appointing an engineer with no HR experience as the department’s head suggests the company is looking to infuse it with a greater sense of the manufacturing principles of continual improvement and operational efficiency.

“It’s a positive sign they want to make deep changes in HR and don’t want to draw from the HR community,” Kleinbaum said.

Jobs 101: How to conduct a job search for older workers

2009-07-29T06:16:00.003-04:00

Image by kodama (home) via Flickr

Jobs 101: How to conduct a job search for older workers

This article started life as a comment on a blog. I then posted "7 tips for 50+ workers" on my blog earlier today and got a great reaction along with a number of additional ideas. With the additional tips and suggestions, here are 15 great ideas to help older workers conduct a successful search

My thanks to Angela Rao-Brown, Angela Rosario, and Maurene Kaplan Grey for their additional contributions.

I spoke recently with a client who had sent out over 750 resumes in a year and received only 4 responses. I was ~~aghast~~ astonished by this, and by his resilient reply.

That’s better than some other people my age that I know, so I must be doing something right!
As we continued the conversation I made a number of suggestions for him to consider as part of his on-going job search. Here is the plan we cam up with, along with a number of other suggestions that were crowdsourced from my blog readers.

Utilize non-traditional search tools. I recommended a number of job aggregators and local boards outside the big 3 - Indeed, SimplyHired, workforce50, Linkup, jobshouts, etc.
Network in non-traditional groups (tech, social media) to break challenge age perceptions

Consider other opportunities – contract, consulting, – look for work places like elance, Guru, Sologig, odesk, and others. Consider teaching at colleges or on-line at schools like Webster or the University of PHX.
Get over the idea that you have to work in a certain business sector. Stretch boundaries. Consider non-profit, etc
Increase your geographic reach. Consider New Orleans, for example. Relocate if necessary, and if possible. You can always move back where you left down the road if you want to
Increase your voice wherever possible, with relevance. people will see it. It might help, and certainly can’t hurt!
Spend time on new things just for you. Be assertive about your job search, but don’t let it consume you.
Be sure to post your job search on locations like LinkedIn and Facebook so your extended network is aware, but don't be annoying or appear desperate.
Open your mind. Be receptive to any opportunity, and don't let preconcieved notions turn you off to any potential opportunity.
Consider reading HR blogs for job advice. You can find over numerous bloggers and contacts by visiting just two sites, HR Alltop and HRM Today.
Join (or start) an "accountability" group--3 or 4 people who meet once a week and hold each other accountable for job-search commitments.
Volunteer. The United Way, for example, can place you in a position that requires your skills. Broadens your network.
Seek a "hold-me-over" job before you need to dip into your savings. It can be a one-day-a- week job in retail. An evening job bartendering.
Seek opportunities to get out of your comfort zone.
Build a personal brand. See the slideshare presentation Me 2.0 by Maurene Grey.

Posted using ShareThis

7 job search tips for 50+ job seekers

2009-07-28T10:13:00.006-04:00

Lately I have been paying attention to people my age (over 50) who are unemployed. (including those who don't dye their gray hair!)

I recently spoke with one person who had sent out over 750 resumes in a year and received 4 responses.

I went OMG!

His response: "That’s better than some other people my age that I know, so I must be doing something right!"

We also discussed some other ideas for him to pursue as part of this mass resume mailing campaign.

Here is the plan we came up with.

Network in non-traditional groups (tech, social media) to break challenge age perceptions

Utilize non-traditional search tools. I recommended a number of job aggregators and local boards outside the big 3 - Indeed, SimplyHired, workforce50, Linkup, jobshouts, etc.

Consider other opportunities – contract, consulting, – look for work places like elance, Guru, Sologig, odesk, and others. Consider teaching at colleges or on-line at schools like Webster or the University of PHX.

Get over the idea that you have to work in a certain business sector. Stretch boundaries. Consider non-profit, etc

Increase your geographic reach. Consider New Orleans, for example. Relocate if necessary, and if possible. You can always move back where you left down the road if you want to

Increase your voice wherever possible, with relevance. people will see it. It might help, and certainly can’t hurt!

Spend time on new things just for you. Be assertive about your job search, but don’t let it consume you.

Photo source: http://AARP.org

Is your job search about to dye?

2009-07-26T08:44:00.004-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

Monster.com and Just for Men (the hair coloring guys) have come out with a web site and career guide aimed at men over forty. Ordinarily, I would not write an article about something that is at least partially a specialized advertisement. In this case, the aligned offering has relevance to workplace topics.

There are many males over the age of forty who are either actively engaged in a job search, or who are suffering concern about their job security. Monster and Just for Men are giving away an e-book called "The Guy's Guide to Reenergizing Your Career".

Even though the campaign clearly plays to fears of ageism and loss of job, some of the content is worthwhile. They also generously provide coupons for you to save money if you buy into the idea that you need to change the color of your hair in order to hold gainful employment.

This is all part of a broad multi-media campaign. I heard about this web site via an ad that played on the most popular sports talk radio program in Tampa during afternoon drive time. Yesterday, I saw a television ad in which a daughter gives her father a box of Just for Men as he laments over his upcoming interview. Later, he comes home, hair darker, confident that he got the job. He gets a hug from his loving daughter.

Looking past all that, here are some of the topics you will find in the career guide.

Beat the "Over 40" barriers
the 40+ career reinvention checklist
Look the part: How old do you look?
Show your experience the right way
I'm overqualified!
Get rid of negative thoughts
Why smart guys get stuck in ruts
Motto for interviews: be prepared
Fight job search ageism
Search tactics for seasoned workers
Lessons from past recessions
Strategies to leverage experience
Dealing with differences at work

Note: This is not a paid post or paid product placement. The information is shared for those who may find it useful or bizarre or alarming. No gray hairs were intentionally dyed or harmed in the writing of this post.

11 things HR can learn from those geeks over there

2009-07-25T10:53:00.005-04:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Jon Ingham recently posted an article on the HR Zone in which he discussed the increasing use of social media tools among Hr Practitioners. He speculates that perhaps HR practitioners, at least in the U.S. are nearing a tipping point on their use of the social web as a business tool.

Web 2.0 and social networking tools are being increasingly well used by HR practitioners working in recruitment, and to a lesser extent, in learning and development. This trend is also being felt on the conference circuit, see for example the high level of tweeting (posts on Twitter) taking place at last week’s social media in recruitment conference. However, it still doesn’t yet feel like something that’s mainstream for many generalists.

The first sign that this may be about to change was recently provided at the SHRM annual conference in New Orleans, where a very high level of blogging and tweeting suggested that US-based HR practitioners at least have substantially increased their involvement in social media over the last year.

I wish this were true, but I think HR still has a long way to go.

Over the past two years,I have attended as many geek shows and "unconferences" as I have HR conferences. Given that a portion of my business is to live blog HR conferences, it is very important to understand how events outside of HR get discussed and reported on. It is especially important to observe it first hand. These "unconferences" - with their goofy name and informal agenda are run very professionally. Many times their delivery exceeds anything I saw at the SHRM conference in New Orleans.

I want to be very clear. This is in no way intended to be a knock on SHRM or the event in New Orleans. They did great things with social media there this year. As noted by Jon, a lot was going on. They took questions for the opening keynote speaker, Jack Welch from Twitter. China Gorman, SHRM COO was tweeting all over the conference. The blogging panel was awesome. Many of the individual speakers talked about how the social web is impacting our profession. There was a panel of many of my blogging peers, and it was live streamed. One of the first times SHRM has ever live broadcast anything from their national conference.
It was great to be there and to be a part of it.

But there is a lot that SHRM and any other HR group doing a conference, even if it is just a day long conference could learn from my friends at some of these geeks shows. These things would enhance the conference experience and provided added benefits for attendees and those unable to attend.

Use streaming video to share the conference experience.

At BlogOrlando 2008, all major sessions were shared via uStream. BlogOrlando3 was a day long event taking place in September 2008 that was thrown together in a few weeks that you could attend for free - the purest expression of an unconference. There were a number of sponsors, and a lot of volunteers who contributed based on their relationship with Josh Hallett, the organizer. It was still amazing and is a compelling case study.

Here is a video from the uStream archive that I think you will find interesting. The speaker is Jake McKee talking about "How Lego caught the Cluetrain". Note this added benefit from video. I am able to grab this from a conference archive, watch it now - asynchronously - AND share it with you, my gentle reader!. I wish I could do the same thing with Sharlyn Lauby and her top notch presentation on planning from New Orleans!

Use multimedia during your conference to share information

At IZEAfest 2008, speakers were introduced via a rotating PowerPoint slide deck in a way that includes their photo, their web address, and their twitter name! Makes it very easy to look them up on Google, follow them on Twitter and pick them out in a crowd. There were also screens showing what people were saying via the twitter stream coming in live from the conference and from the video followers out in cyberspace. These can be seen by everyone, including the audience and the speakers - making the virtual audience an active part of the live event!

I will be attending IZEAfest 2009 in October. It will be held at Seaworld in Orlando, Florida. You should seriously think about attending if you want to learn more about how these events can benefit you as an HR professional.

The first 30 seconds or so of this video depicts the setup I am referencing if you want to see what it looks like.

Communicating like this promotes outreach and inclusion

You build audience. You build brand. You spread your message. You reach people you wouldn't otherwise reach.

You are building community!

For HR people, this would mean that we could communicate across industries, geographic barriers, company lines, and occupational niches. For bloggers, you can add to your knowledge from people you might never otherwise encounter.

So planners of HR conferences can:

reach out to a bigger audience
making a lasting impression with them
leave a permanent knowledge base behind rather than a fleeting conference experience
increase the personalized feel of the conference presenters and participants
broaden the conference experience through additional participation
expose conference attendees to the value of social web based experienced
build lasting community connections
create asynchronous attendance opportunities

We saw some of this recently from the Social Recruiting Conference that was held at the Googleplex. I have high hopes for the developing HRevolution: the 2009 HR Blogger experience unconference currently being developed by Ben Eubanks and Trish Mcfarland. (not the HRevolution in Europe) Here is hoping we see more!

I'd love to accompany someone from SHRM National to one of these conferences.

Let me know how I can help!

Bonus: Learn from Social Web Subject Matter Experts for free!

Here are a couple of great opportunities. Two hours of free training from top blogger Merlin Mann who runs an entropic web empire speaking here about creating smart blogs for smart bloggers and another from very controversial vlogger Loren Feldman of 1938 Media speaking about video blogging..

Hire Yourself Some of Your HR Guy!

2009-07-23T15:00:00.004-04:00

My reach won't be as big as that of my buddy Kris Dunn on helping this guy find a job, but when it comes to a job search, the more the merrier!

One of the top minds in HR blogging has just come onto the market. He comes with a few conditional strings, but man...gotta be a place out there quickly for a guy this smart. I am talking about Lance Haun aka Your HR Guy...now for hire.

What exactly is he looking for? I'll let him tell you in his own words:

Good news for all you folks looking for an awesome, social media savvy HR pro: Lance Haun is now offering his services full time at a competitive hourly, salary and/or contract rate.

What am I looking for?

HR/Talent opportunities in the Portland, Oregon metro area or a telecommuting/remote type opportunity (my wife loves her job).
Anything involving blogging/social media would be a big plus. Continuing my involvement with this blog is a necessity.
HR vendor space? Other opportunities that fit my skill set? Let’s talk.

Do I find it a little humorous that this happened right after I posted about this? A little bit. I also appreciate David Perry sending me a review copy of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Seekers 2.0 a couple of weeks ago. Who knew I would have such a keen interest in reviewing the book so quickly?

You can reach Lance via email at lance@yourhrguy.com. I suggest you do so quiickly before he gets snapped up!

Which company culture would you pay for?

2009-07-23T10:46:00.006-04:00

Why did Amazon want to buy Zappos?

For a lot of reasons, but one of the most compelling: the Zappos culture.

Amazon has its own unique approach, but isn't afraid to reach out and bring in something new and potentially enriching.

Seth Godin nails it when he says Amazon bought Zappos to gain:

What you buy when you spend that kind of money is what matters
now. And what matters is:

A corporate culture that's not the same (and where great
people choose to work)

A tight relationship with customers that give you
permission to talk with them

A business model that's remarkable and worth
talking about

A story that spreads

Leadership

These things are available to organizations of every size. If you want them
and choose to work for them.

Or buy them in this case.

Which company would you buy if you could pick a company culture to blend with your own?

A couple of mine (besides Zappos) would be Whole Foods, the "old" Starbucks, and a small company in Florida called IZEA.

How CEOs communicate at Amazon & Zappos

2009-07-22T19:32:00.005-04:00

Image via CrunchBase

Amazon buys Zappos. Will we see @JeffBezos tweeting?

Here is the announcement. Continue beyond for more important information!

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Zappos.com, Inc. a leader in online apparel and footwear sales that strives to provide shoppers with the best possible service and selection. The acquisition brings together two companies who share a passion for serving customers and whose customers benefit from cultures of innovation and long term thinking.

“Zappos is a customer focused company,” said Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “We see great opportunities for both companies to learn from each other and create even better experiences for our customers.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Amazon will acquire all of the outstanding shares and assume all outstanding options and warrants of Zappos in exchange for approximately 10 million shares of Amazon common stock, equal to approximately $807 million based on the average closing price for the 45 trading days ending July 17, 2009. In addition, Amazon will provide Zappos employees with $40 million in cash and restricted stock units. Subject to various closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close during the Fall of 2009.

Following the acquisition, the Zappos management team will remain intact and Zappos will operate its successful brand, customer experience and unique culture of service independently with headquarters in Las Vegas, NV.

“We are joining forces with Amazon because there is a huge opportunity to utilize each other’s strengths and move even faster towards our vision of delivering happiness to customers, employees and vendors,” said Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. “We will continue to build the Zappos brand and culture in our own unique way, and we believe Amazon is the best partner to help us do this over the long term.”

Here is how Jeff Bezos and Tony Hsieh, the two CEOs handled the communication of the event.

Bezos sent an eight minute video. Hsieh sent a letter.

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009
From: Tony Hsieh (CEO - Zappos.com)
To: All Zappos Employees
Subject: Zappos and Amazon

Please set aside 20 minutes to carefully read this entire email. (My apologies for the occasional use of formal-sounding language, as parts of it are written in a particular way for legal reasons.)

Today is a big day in Zappos history.

This morning, our board approved and we signed what’s known as a “definitive agreement”, in which all of the existing shareholders and investors of Zappos (there are over 100) will be exchanging their Zappos stock for Amazon stock. Once the exchange is done, Amazon will become the only shareholder of Zappos stock.

Over the next few days, you will probably read headlines that say "Amazon acquires Zappos" or "Zappos sells to Amazon". While those headlines are technically correct, they don't really properly convey the spirit of the transaction. (I personally would prefer the headline “Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree…”)

We plan to continue to run Zappos the way we have always run Zappos -- continuing to do what we believe is best for our brand, our culture, and our business. From a practical point of view, it will be as if we are switching out our current shareholders and board of directors for a new one, even though the technical legal structure may be different.

We think that now is the right time to join forces with Amazon because there is a huge opportunity to leverage each other's strengths and move even faster towards our long term vision. For Zappos, our vision remains the same: delivering happiness to customers, employees, and vendors. We just want to get there faster.

We are excited about doing this for 3 main reasons:

1) We think that there is a huge opportunity for us to really accelerate the growth of the Zappos brand and culture, and we believe that Amazon is the best partner to help us get there faster.

2) Amazon supports us in continuing to grow our vision as an independent entity, under the Zappos brand and with our unique culture.

3) We want to align ourselves with a shareholder and partner that thinks really long term (like we do at Zappos), as well as do what’s in the best interest of our existing shareholders and investors.

I will go through each of the above points in more detail below, but first, let me get to the top 3 burning questions that I'm guessing many of you will have.

TOP 3 BURNING QUESTIONS

Q: Will I still have a job?

As mentioned above, we plan to continue to run Zappos as an independent entity. In legal terminology, Zappos will be a "wholly-owned subsidiary" of Amazon. Your job is just as secure as it was a month ago.

Q: Will the Zappos culture change?

Our culture at Zappos is unique and always evolving and changing, because one of our core values is to Embrace and Drive Change. What happens to our culture is up to us, which has always been true. Just like before, we are in control of our destiny and how our culture evolves.

A big part of the reason why Amazon is interested in us is because they recognize the value of our culture, our people, and our brand. Their desire is for us to continue to grow and develop our culture (and perhaps even a little bit of our culture may rub off on them).

They are not looking to have their folks come in and run Zappos unless we ask them to. That being said, they have a lot of experience and expertise in a lot of areas, so we're very excited about the opportunities to tap into their knowledge, expertise, and resources, especially on the technology side. This is about making the Zappos brand, culture, and business even stronger than it is today.

Q: Are Tony, Alfred, or Fred leaving?

No, we have no plans to leave. We believe that we are at the very beginning of what's possible for Zappos and are very excited about the future and what we can accomplish for Zappos with Amazon as our new partner. Part of the reason for doing this is so that we can get a lot more done more quickly.

There is an additional Q&A section at the end of this email, but I wanted to make sure we got the top 3 burning questions out of the way first. Now that we've covered those questions, I wanted to share in more detail our thinking behind the scenes that led us to this decision.

First, I want to apologize for the suddenness of this announcement. As you know, one of our core values is to Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication, and if I could have it my way, I would have shared much earlier that we were in discussions with Amazon so that all employees could be involved in the decision process that we went through along the way. Unfortunately, because Amazon is a public company, there are securities laws that prevented us from talking about this to most of our employees until today.

We've been on friendly terms with Amazon for many years, as they have always been interested in Zappos and have always had a great respect for our brand.

Several months ago, they reached out to us and said they wanted to join forces with us so that we could accelerate the growth of our business, our brand, and our culture. When they said they wanted us to continue to build the Zappos brand (as opposed to folding us into Amazon), we decided it was worth exploring what a partnership would look like.

We learned that they truly wanted us to continue to build the Zappos brand and continue to build the Zappos culture in our own unique way. I think "unique" was their way of saying "fun and a little weird." :)

Over the past several months, as we got to know each other better, both sides became more and more excited about the possibilities for leveraging each other's strengths. We realized that we are both very customer-focused companies -- we just focus on different ways of making our customers happy.

Amazon focuses on low prices, vast selection and convenience to make their customers happy, while Zappos does it through developing relationships, creating personal emotional connections, and delivering high touch ("WOW") customer service.

We realized that Amazon's resources, technology, and operational experience had the potential to greatly accelerate our growth so that we could grow the Zappos brand and culture even faster. On the flip side, through the process Amazon realized that it really was the case that our culture is the platform that enables us to deliver the Zappos experience to our customers. Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) made it clear that he had a great deal of respect for our culture and that Amazon would look to protect it.

We asked our board members what they thought of the opportunity. Michael Moritz, who represents Sequoia Capital (one of our investors and board members), wrote the following: "You now have the opportunity to accelerate Zappos' progress and to make the name and the brand and everything associated with it an enduring, permanent part of peoples' lives... You are now free to let your imagination roam - and to contemplate initiatives and undertakings that today, in our more constrained setting, we could not take on."

One of the great things about Amazon is that they are very long term thinkers, just like we are at Zappos. Alignment in very long term thinking is hard to find in a partner or investor, and we felt very lucky and excited to learn that both Amazon and Zappos shared this same philosophy.

All this being said, this was not an easy decision. Over the past several months, we had to weigh all the pros and cons along with all the potential benefits and risks. At the end of the day, we realized that, once it was determined that this was in the best interests of our shareholders, it basically all boiled down to asking ourselves 2 questions:

1) Do we believe that this will accelerate the growth of the Zappos brand and help us fulfill our mission of delivering happiness faster?

2) Do we believe that we will continue to be in control of our own destiny so that we can continue to grow our unique culture?

After spending a lot of time with Amazon and getting to know them and understanding their intentions better, we reached the conclusion that the answers to these 2 questions are YES and YES.

The Zappos brand will continue to be separate from the Amazon brand. Although we'll have access to many of Amazon’s resources, we need to continue to build our brand and our culture just as we always have. Our mission remains the same: delivering happiness to all of our stakeholders, including our employees, our customers, and our vendors. (As a side note, we plan to continue to maintain the relationships that we have with our vendors ourselves, and Amazon will continue to maintain the relationships that they have with their vendors.)

We will be holding an all hands meeting soon to go over all of this in more detail. Please email me any questions that you may have so that we can cover as many as possible during the all hands meeting and/or a follow-up email.

We signed what's known as the "definitive agreement" today, but we still need to go through the process of getting government approval, so we are anticipating that this transaction actually won't officially close for at least a few months. We are legally required by the SEC to be in what's known as a "quiet period", so if you get any questions related to the transaction from anyone including customers, vendors, or the media, please let them know that we are in a quiet period mandated by law and have them email tree@zappos.com, which is a special email account that Alfred and I will be monitoring.

Alfred and I would like to say thanks to the small group of folks on our finance and legal teams and from our advisors at Morgan Stanley, Fenwick & West, and PricewaterhouseCoopers who have been working really hard, around the clock, and behind the scenes over the last several months to help make all this possible.

Before getting to the Q&A section, I'd also like to thank everyone for taking the time to read this long email and for helping us get to where we are today.

It’s definitely an emotional day for me. The feelings I’m experiencing are similar to what I felt in college on graduation day: excitement about the future mixed with fond memories of the past. The last 10 years were an incredible ride, and I'm excited about what we will accomplish together over the next 10 years as we continue to grow Zappos!

-Tony Hsieh

CEO - Zappos.com

Q&A

Q: Will we still continue to grow our headquarters out of Vegas?

Yes! Just like before, we plan to continue to grow our Las Vegas operations as long as we can continue to attract the right talent for each of our departments. We do not have any plans to move any departments, nor does Amazon want us to because they recognize that our culture is what makes the Zappos brand special.

Q: What will happen to our warehouse in Kentucky?

As many of you know, we were strategic in choosing our warehouse location due to its proximity to the UPS Worldport hub in Louisville. Amazon does not have any warehouse locations that are closer to the Worldport hub. There is the possibility that they may want to store some of their inventory in our warehouse or vice-versa. Right now, both Zappos and Amazon believe that the best customer experience is to continue running our warehouse in Kentucky at its current location.

Q: Will we be reducing staff in order to gain operational efficiency?

There are no plans to do so at this time. Both Zappos and Amazon are focused on growth, which means we will need to hire more people to help us grow.

Q: Will we get a discount at Amazon?

No, because we are planning on continuing to run Zappos as a separate company with our own culture and core values. And we're not going to be giving the Zappos discount to Amazon employees either, unless they bake us cookies and deliver them in person.

Q: Will our benefits change?

No, we are not planning on making any changes (outside of the normal course of business) to our benefit packages.

Q: Do we keep our core values?

Yes, we will keep our core values, and Amazon will keep their core values.

Q: Will our training/pipeline programs or progression plans change? Will there still be more growth opportunities?

We will continue building out our pipeline and progression as planned. The whole point of this combination is to accelerate our growth, so if anything, we are actually anticipating more growth opportunities for everyone.

Q: Will we continue to do the special things we do for our customers? Are our customer service policies going to change?

Just like before, that's completely up to us to decide.

Q: Can you tell me a bit more about Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO)? What is he like? (The embedded video shown above follows.)

Q: I'm a business/financial reporter. Can you talk like a banker and use fancy-sounding language that we can print in a business publication?

Zappos is an online footwear category leader and Amazon believes Zappos is the right team with a unique culture, proven track record, and the experience to become a leading soft goods company; Zappos' customer service obsession reinforces Amazon’s mission to be the earth's most customer-centric company; Great brand, strong vendor relationships, broad selection, large active and repeat customer base; Amazon believes Zappos is a great business -- growing, profitable and positive cash flow; Accelerate combined companies' scale and growth trajectory in the shoe, apparel and accessories space; Significant synergy opportunities, including technology, marketing, and possible international expansion.

Q: What is the purchase price?

This is not a cash transaction. This is a stock exchange. Our shareholders and option holders will be issued approximately 10 million Amazon shares on a fully converted basis. The details of the deal terms and how the shares will be distributed will be filed with the SEC on Form S-4 and will be publicly available when it is filed.

Q: Can you talk like a lawyer now?

This email was sent on July 22, 2009. In connection with the proposed merger, Amazon.com will file a registration statement on Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission that will contain a consent solicitation/prospectus. Zappos' shareholders and investors are urged to carefully read the consent solicitation/prospectus when it becomes available and other relevant documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the proposed merger because they contain important information about Amazon.com, Zappos and the proposed merger. Shareholders and investors will be able to obtain the consent solicitation/prospectus when it becomes available at www.sec.gov or www.amazon.com/ir.

Certain statements contained in this email are not statements of historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect current expectations, are inherently uncertain and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from expected results include those set forth in Amazon.com's Current Report on Form 8-K, dated July 22, 2009.

Q: Can you please stop?

okthxbye

HR a la Carnival!

2009-07-22T12:30:00.005-04:00

Image by Hourman via Flickr

The Carnival is up and running!

Mick Collins is serving up a special 27 dish serving of HR a la Carnival over on the InfoHRM blog.

So join the whole carny crew spins the Merry go Round and the Ferris Wheel of HR with Mike Haberman, Gautam Ghosh, Ben Eubanks, Amit Baghria, April Dowling, Susanna Cesar, Josh Letorneau, Steve Boese, Chris Young, Graham Salisbury, Erik Samdahl, Mark Bennett, Susan Heathfield, Wally Bock, Sharlyn Lauby, The HR Store, Dan McCarthy, Jon Ingham, Drew Tarvin, Jessica Miller-Merrill, Richard Manning Jr. and Laurie Ruettimann. (and me!)

Enjoy!

HR Tweetup in Orlando - Update

2009-07-22T06:20:00.000-04:00

Image by tomdev via Flickr

All the members of the blogging panel from Monday morning are now committed to the tweetup. Please note the time has changed to 8:30 Pm and the location will be the Lobby Bar at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort.

Who's attending the tweetup in Orlando so far?

Mary Richards of NAS Recruitment
Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR
Deborah Herman
Traci Deveau
Barry Brown of Effective Resources
Sharlyn Lauby of HR Bartender
Keith Lauby
Mark Addington of Addington Law
Stephen Geraghty-Harrison
Joyce Chastain
Michael Long of The Red Recruiter
Elizabeth Panza
Melyssa Bernstein
Christina Tierney
Kris Dunn of HR Capitalist
Lori Goldsmith
Jessica Lee of Fistful of Talent

Danger Will Robinson! Punk Rock HR detected

2009-07-21T17:17:00.002-04:00

Apparently word has started to spread in the corporate world about the Punk Rock HR movement. Firewalls are starting to filter out the insidious proporganda being passed around the interwebs by the rebellious subversive known as Laurie. It probably has something to do with her fledgling comedy career!

Jobs 101: How to build a business network in 24 hours!

2009-07-20T20:35:00.002-04:00

Image by Elliottng via Flickr

Jobs 101: How to build a business network in 24 hours!

One of the key elements of conducting a successful job is working your personal network of connections for jobs. Not everyone builds a massive Rolodex file of contacts as they go through their career, which will leave you at a disadvantage if you suddenly find yourself in a job search like so many people today.

So what to do if you are currently in this situation? Get started building a network today!

Here are three tips to help you get started with this process.

Check out listings for professional organizations or groups you can join. In Tampa, you can find organizations like the Tampa Bay Hispanic Chamber, the Pinellas County Urban League, the Independent Black Chamber, and the Greater Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce.
Check out professional associations related to you career field. In Tampa, there are many organizations of this type including the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, HR Tampa and the Suncoast Human Resources Management Association (SHRMA) for HR professionals, and the Florida Public Relations Association amongst others.
Use the networking web site Meetup to locate relevant groups. You will find groups both large and small on Meetup under a variety of topics. A quick search for Tampa shows some of the largest groups under the topic of "Business Networking" include the Brandon Networking Group, Monster Mixers in Largo, Business Collaborators Referral Networking, and Tampa Golf 4 Business Networking where networking is done while playing a round of golf! .

There are many similar groups out there. The only thing holding you back from building your network is you.

Get out there and get connected!

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HR Happy Hour Hootenanny

2009-07-19T07:15:00.006-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

What's Bob Forrest got to do with it anyway?

Nothing really, this all about HR Happy Hour

Steve Boese runs HR Happy Hour on Blog Talk Radio on Friday nights and is doing a great job with it. I called in last Friday and was able to join in a wide ranging discussion with Steve and Shauna, along with Susan Burns, Jason Seiden, and Kari Quaas.

It was great to discuss topics such as EFCA, why there are so many more women than men in HR, and how those of us on the call got into HR in the first place. It was a lot of fun. You can listen to the archive here.

Join in some time. it's way worth the time!

Card Check Compromise?

2009-07-17T01:23:00.003-04:00

A report in The New York Times indicates that the card check provisions that have been such a controversial portion of the proposed Employee Free Choice Act are now dead, dropped as part of a developing compromise being put together in the Senate.

“This is a very emotional issue,” said Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the Republican turned Democrat who had been lobbied heavily by both sides. “I cannot remember an issue this emotional in all my years in the Senate.”

Some of the compromises that may emerge from the compromise legislation include:

shortened election periods of 5-10 days
access to employer premises for union organizers
a ban on employers forcing employees to attend so-called "captive audience meetings"

The Times story suggests the bill could be voted on in September.

Job Hunt 101: Who is hiring in your town?

2009-07-16T06:47:00.002-04:00

Jobs 101: Who is hiring in Tampa?

A version of this article specific to job searching in Tampa can be found by clicking the link above which will take you to the Examiner web site where I wrote on workplace issues.

Help for your job search

Check out these sites to find out who is hiring today in your city

SimplyHired.com is a job aggregration site that collects job postings from all over the internet and makes them searchable in one place. Indeed is a similar site and currently lists 20,776 open positions near my home in Tampa. Both of these sites are searchable by zip code, location, job type and cover positions nationally.

LinkUp is a site that searches for job posting directly off the career sites for comanies that are hiring and aggregates them and makes them searchable.

Snagajob is a job site that focuses on positions that pay on an hourly basis. if you are searching for an hourly job, you can find listings for restaurants, retail and other service sector positions here.

Jobing is a web site that focuses on job listings for a certain metropolitan area. This site will provide leads to many job postings in most major cities.

Dice is focused on job listings in the technical area. Check it out if you are seeking a job in a technical company.

TwitterJobSearch utilizes the popular real time microblogging service to provide searchable job lisitings that have been advertised there. JobShouts and Tweetmyjob are other sites that utilize twitter to provide leads on jobs. You can also try sites like juju, Bing, or Google.

Be imaginative and persistent. You hard work will pay off eventually. Good luck!

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Creating a WOW culture at work!

2009-07-15T06:14:00.003-04:00

Image by punk_drizzle via Flickr

Brainstorming Human Resources

A couple of years ago I sat through a couple of days of meetings that basically were intended to be a deep look at an internal HR department. The focus of the meeting was to look how that company could revitalize their culture and increase the engagement of their employees.

Looking back was interesting. I thought I would share them. Maybe you will find something of value here.

Key Themes

Increase employee pride and passion
Create a strong culture based on innovation and fun
HR as business partner
Active communication at all levels
Measure success and celebrate it!
Talent management
View HR programs on global/local basis
Excellent people
Add value via exceptional pay/benefit practices
Define competencies for all employees
All employees are valued for their work
All employees are valued for their diversity
Strategies

Getting started

1. Build excellent leadership skills

People management processes - in/out
Onboarding
Initial selection
Overall people strategy
leadership development program
Practice "walk the talk" management
View people as our competitive advantage

2. Develop excellent talent management
3. People and culture strategies must be the leading focus of the organization
4. Drive innovative strategies through people management

Programs should strike with maximum surface structure within the organization
Organization should be flat and team based
Practice good leadership as a team sport
Top-grade talent

5. Role of Human Resources

Ear to the floor inside the company
Eyes to the outside to bring in new ideas
Primarily responsible for attracting/retaining the best talent
Always foster culture built around respect, credibility, fairness, trust, pride, camraderie

Always remember this:

"Culture doesn't create the environment. Leadership creates the culture that leads to the environment in which people work. These things can be planned and managed from all levels of the organization, but they start at the top and must permeate everything a great organization does."

How to get started creating a people driven culture

Solicit feedback on current culture
Focus groups
Establish recognition committee
Begin eliminating rules
Bring disparate work groups together
Create opportunities for fun in the workplace
Foster employee decision making at every opportunity
Foster programs to create employee ownership
Encourage employees to give you their elevator speeches
Get ideas from employee focus groups
Create the WOW factor with recognition programs, services employees will value, or that will make their personal time more valuable

Low cost ideas for getting strategic

Establish a business book library and reading program for employees
Establish a "2 levels up" group of mentors for cross functional learning
Attend budget meetings and learn how to ask for $!
Back to basics committee - looking for ways to simplify the organization
Review the strategic plans of other departments and look for opportunities to tie in your programs.
Brown Bag Lunch from the Leading Edge - Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, SmartBrief, other sources from the web.

The Punk Rock HR interview | Post #750 on HRH

2009-07-13T21:04:00.005-04:00

Profiling Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR!

You HR punks needs to learn about blogging!

HR Florida will be holding their 31st state-wide conference at the Rosen Shingle Resort in Orlando from August 16-19, 2009.

You probably already realize that it is nearly impossible to have a conversation these days where the topic of using social media in business doesn't come up.

More and more, being familiar with the social web is becoming a desirable skill to employers.

Blogging is one area that people are at least basically familiar with. But what exactly is blogging? And how can it help you or your employer? If you are an HR professional, HR Florida is offering you an extraordinary opportunity to find out.

The 2009 HR Florida Conference & Exposition is offering a once in a lifetime session with a panel of top human resources bloggers from around the nation who will discuss blogging and its impact on organizations and the HR profession.

The panel line-up will include Sharlyn Lauby, Kris Dunn, Jessica Lee, Laurie Ruettimann and myself.

One of the most controversial panel members is Laurie Ruettimann, who runs an HR consulting business and blog called Punk Rock HR. Laurie is a delightful mix of brains, top-notch HR skills, and a slightly overly healthy dose of cynicism about the HR profession. She also lives with a celebrity - Mr. Scrubby, the blogging business cat!

Laurie was kind of enough to agree to answer some questions for me, and I am using them as part of my 750th post heree on Human Race Horses. Pretty good for being in business for just two years!

"Team building is for suckers." - Laurie Ruettimann

Can you describe your blog for us and tell us how you came up with the idea for its theme?

Punk Rock HR is an anti-establishment site that offers career advice and musings on Corporate America. I am a former HR professional. I worked at many levels within many organizations. I've hired everyone from cooks to pilots to chemical engineers. I've counseled factory workers who make candy and CIOs who run large IT organizations. I've seen the best of Corporate America, and I've seen the worst. I hope my website, which is very cynical, offers interesting stories and empowers readers to take ownership of their careers. No one has your back out there except for you.

What are your three biggest axes to grind with employers and the way they deal with workers today?

• I think companies act like they're doing you a favor when they hire you. In truth, you're doing them a favor by dedicating yourself to their causes. They should thank you by paying you a fair wage and ensuring that you work in an organization free from hostility and discrimination.
• I also take objection when companies want you to dedicate yourself to their mission, vision, and values and then make you feel like dirt when you expect more than a 3% raise. Labor makes companies better, not worse. Labor improves profitability.
• Finally, I object to the concept of profit sharing and retirement planning as it exists today. You're not being offered a fair plan and you aren't being given your fair share of your company's profits.

Where do you see the HR profession going in the next two years?

I think HR will continue to flounder. No one speaks for HR as a profession and no one is "cool enough" or "successful enough" in Human Resources to emulate.

HR, as a function, is a mess. Some Chief HR Officers think it's our job to identify and find the best talent out there. Others think that HR needs to play a critical role in marketing the corporate brand. Others feel HR needs to be more involved in compliance, cost reduction, and the prevention of employee litigation. We can't be all things to all people. Until we define our role as a function, we'll continue to operate in a bifurcated and confusing way.

If you could pick another topic to write about, what would it be?

I am a political junkie. I would write about America's foreign policy. I would examine the ways we can prevent and fight terrorism at home and abroad.

Finally, how influential is Mr. Scrubby at Punk Rock HR LLC?

Mr. Scrubby, my scrubilicious kitty, is a three-year-old orange tabby cat. He makes all executive decisions and operates as my senior editor. He is also my brand ambassador. Unfortunately, he spends nearly 95% of my earnings!

For more info: http://punkrockHR.com E-mail: laurie.ruettimann@gmail.com Twitter: lruettimann

Thanks, Laurie - as usual, you rock!

"Free" for free

2009-07-13T04:56:00.005-04:00

Chris Anderson,(Chief Editor - Wired magazine) has released his new book: “Free - the future of a radical price”. In the book he describes his radical model of freemium and how the most effective price on a product can be no price at all.

I got it by going to Anderson's "Free" web site, getting the embed code from Scrib'd to paste here, and then downloaded a free unabridged audio version from Audible which I just finished uploading to my iPod through iTunes.

That is a pretty good illustration of the "freemium" model. Enjoy the book yourself below!

FREE (full book) by Chris Anderson

Three reasons to be at the HR Florida State Conference

2009-07-13T03:51:00.004-04:00

Image by State Library and Archives of Florida via Flickr

Just in case you need more than one reason to attend the HR Florida State Conference, we even have video! Take a quick look at the Rosen Shingle Resort and let Carol McDaniel explain why you should attend the State Conference this year.

Check out my posts on the HR Bloggers panel and the summer surge promotion for HR Florida as well!

Blogging & HR: Can the two peacefully coexist?

2009-07-13T03:34:00.003-04:00

The idea for this panel all got started last January after I had dinner with Keith and Sharlyn Lauby during a business trip to Fort Lauderdale. Sharlyn extended an invitation for me to take part in a live blogging event on behalf of HR Florida. A couple of days later, I suggested the idea of this panel to Sharlyn. She took it and ran with it.

And in just one month, you can be the benefactor if you are attending the 2009 HR Florida State Conference.

It’s almost impossible to have a conversation these days that doesn’t turn to the topic of social media. Blogging is probably one of the oldest and fastest growing forms of social media. But what exactly is blogging? And how can it help me and/or my company?

At the 2009 HR Florida Conference & Exposition you will have a once in a lifetime session with a panel of top human resources bloggers from around the nation as they talk about blogging and its impact on organizations and the HR profession.

Learning Objectives (Intermediate Level):

Understand how blogging can enhance your skills as a human resources professional.
Discuss the impact blogging can have on your organizational goals.
Learn how you can get involved in blogging.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

Presenters:

Sharlyn Lauby Facillitator	Sharlyn Lauby, SPHR, CPLP is the HR Bartender: a blog that’s a friendly place to discuss workplace issues. Since its inception in 2008, HR Bartender has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Business Blogs by Business Pundit and a Top 25 Talent Management blog by Fistful of Talent. The blog tackles everyday workplace topics in the casual, conversational manner you would expect at your neighborhood bar. After a long day at the office, it’s the friendly face who’s there when you need them. They listen, laugh with you, occasionally offer advice and, when you need it, give you that encouragement to go out and do what you need to do. In addition to her own site, the HR Bartender can be found at Mashable, Fast Company, Alltop, and HRM Today. When she’s not bartending, Sharlyn is president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) Group which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. Her off-hours are spent searching for the best hamburger on the planet, fabulous wine that cost less than $10/bottle and exotic martinis. So pull up a stool, order your favorite beverage, and join the conversation…the bar is always open. Website \| Blog \| Twitter \| Facebook \| LinkedIn
Kris Dunn	Who is Kris Dunn? That’s an easy question. Kris is a VP of People for Daxko, a leading provider of operations and financial management soluntions for membercentric non-profit organizations. He was VP of HR for SourceMedical, a software company focused on serving the booming outpatient market. Prior to joining Source in 2005, Kris was a Regional VP of HR for Charter Communications, a HR Manager for BellSouth Mobility (subsequently known as Cingular and AT&T based on which round of consolidation you are referring to), and a Project Manager in the market research division of Aragon Consulting (gobbled up by IBM Global Services). With that track record in mind, Kris can now say what he never thought he would – he’s getting old and he has over a decade in the HR biz. In that great lineup of employers, Kris had access to a lot of free tuition – so it made sense to pick up some diplomas. After picking up his undergraduate at Northeast Missouri State University, Kris picked up a M.A.E in Education from UAB and a MPPM from Birmingham-Southern College. In the spirit of the most aggressive Tuition Aid participants in your organization, Kris got the diplomas and promptly moved on to the next challenge/company (that’s a brochure for the wisdom of having payback agreements). He also picked up the SPHR as well along the way. As an HR Pro, Kris is most interested in the intersection of the HR practice, technology and business results in today’s organizations. Kris has a strong interest in areas like recruiting and performance management, but keeps an eye towards the thousand other areas that impact HR Generalists at every level (VP, Director, Manager, etc.) as well. Kris’s eyes get glossy when HR people start talking about being strategic without being specific. Kris started a blog called The HR Capitalist in December of 2006 with the goal of building a community he could learn from. He had so much fun that he founded two other web properties, Fistful of Talent and Benefits Buzz, and is a Contributing Editor at Workforce Management magazine. Blog \| Twitter \| LinkedIn
Jessica Lee	Jessica Lee, PHR is an employment manager with APCO Worldwide, a privately held, global public relations firm headquartered in Washington D.C. She serves as an internal HR business partner and also manages recruitment and training and development activities for the firm. Jessica has been practicing HR since 2000 serving in progressively responsible recruiting and HR generalist roles for both public and private organizations. She is an alumni of the University of Washington where she studied labor relations and political science. Jessica is also an active member of the HR and recruiting social media community as editor of the blog Fistful of Talent where she and her colleagues write on a variety of topics related to talent management. Website \| Blog \| Twitter \| LinkedIn
Laurie Ruettimann	When she isn’t setting the world on fire with her cynical approach to Corporate America, Laurie Ruettimann is a Human Resources Professional with over a decade of experience in several large, Fortune 500 organizations. She received her SPHR certification in 2001 from The Society for Human Resources Management and is a certified recruiter and trainer through various credentialed organizations. Laurie has opted-out of Corporate America and now works as a full-time Human Resources speaker, writer, and blogger who advocates for a common sense approach to traditional HR practices. Her work has been featured in various publications and she can be found on punkrockhr.com and other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Blog \| Twitter \| Facebook \| LinkedIn
Michael VanDervort	Michael VanDervort is the guy behind the “Human Race Horses” blog. Check out Human Race Horses and his other site, Best Practice Exchange. By day he works as an HR Specialist, doing web research and “think-tank” projects on human resources and employee relations issues for one of the largest employers in Florida. He's worked in HR for 23 years for a number of Fortune 500 companies, three of whom were named as Top 100 employers by the Great Place to Work Institute. By night, as owner of Human Racehorses, LLC, Michaels writes about human resources and business topics in the areas that interest me: social networking, employee relations, the culture of organizations, leadership and best business practices. His aim is to commend companies that do things right, and to provoke dialog where things could improve. Michael has also developed a live blogging “practice” over the last year, doing live blogging from a number of HR and social networking events including IZEAfest in Orlando, the 2009 Employers of Excellence National Conference in Las Vegas, and the HR Florida Conference & Exposition. He is also involved in a non-HR online business with his wife, handling the community building and social networking aspects of the business. Blog \| Twitter \| Facebook \| LinkedIn

HR Florida Summer Surge

2009-07-13T03:20:00.002-04:00

Only 3 days left!

In all that summer planning, don’t forget to make your plans for the HR Florida State Conference August 16th – August 19th – AND we have just made it a little more exciting to make those plans AND enhance your conference experience!

HR FLORIDA ANNOUNCES THE SUMMER SURGE!!

Beginning June 1st through July 15th 2009 we have put together a few ways you can enhance your conference experience by referring your friends and colleagues to attend with you!

This is how The Summer Surge works:

If you are a registered 2009 conference attendee* and you refer a friend or colleague to register* between June 1st and July 15th for the conference you will receive the following prizes:

1st Registered Referral – HR Florida premium gift (i.e., luggage, portfolio, etc…)
2nd Registered Referral – Free attendance at one of the Pre-Conference Sessions
3rd Registered Referral – One additional night stay at the Rosen Shingle Creek
(Subsequent referrals made will be rewarded with HR Florida premier gift)

AND, that’s not all! Each time you refer a colleague or friend who registers, your name will be entered into a drawing for a FREE 2010 HR Florida conference registration! Yes, we said FREE! The winner’s name will be drawn on Wednesday, August 17th during the General Session.

So get out there and get those referrals coming in and make plans to be at the HR Florida State Conference this summer with your friends and colleagues!

For a downloadable copy of this program, CLICK HERE. For the Summer Surge Referral Form, CLICK HERE.

Please direct all questions to Ray Dile, Marketing Director at 813.480.0377 or email Ray at marketing@hrflorida.org.

* All registrations will be confirmed by the HR Florida State Conference Chair.

Where I'll be speaking or blogging in upcoming months

2009-07-12T10:42:00.013-04:00

Events where I'll be speaking or live blogging for the rest of 2009

The year is half over and I still have several conferences that I will be attending and live blogging from this year.

Here are some of the details of my upcoming trips. You can find my complete travel schedule on LinkedIn or on my Dopplr page. I am going to be profiling each of these conferences separately over the next week.

August 2009
Orlando, FL Aug 16 - Aug 19

I will be speaking on social media and live blogging this event on behalf of HR Florida as hundreds of HR professionals from across Florida gather to network and share their knowledge. I'll also be a presenter at HR Florida, sitting in on a panel of blogging experts as we discuss "HR and Blogging: Can they peacefully co-exist?"

September 2009
Hollywood, FL Sep 8 - Sep 11
2009 ERE Fall Expo

I'll be live blogging this event on behalf of ERE at this show. Hundreds of leading recruiters will be at ERE Expo 2009 Fall in Hollywood Beach, Florida, to increase their level of personal performance, represent and brand their companies successfully, and ultimately raise the bar on providing value in difficult economic times. And I'll be there sharing your ideas with you via Twitter, pictures and video!

Even better, ERE has offered any of my readers a discount of $200 off the full conference price of $995 if you want to attend. You can the discount by registering on-line at ERE Expo. Be sure to use the discount code FL09HRH to get the discount!

October 2009
Orlando, FL Oct 1 - Oct 4
IZEAfest @ SeaWorld

I will attending this event for my own edification, but I will be live blogging as well. I attended IZEAfest 2008 and it may have been the best blogging show I have ever been a part of. This year promises to be even bigger as many influencers and Rock Stars of social media descend on Orlando to discuss social media and party at Seaworld. Tickets to IZEAfest are very reasonable and include a full day entry pass to Seaworld.

Las Vegas, NV Oct 14 - Oct 18
Blogworld Expo

The 2009 BlogWorld & New Media Expo will take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, beginning with the exclusive "Social Media Business Summit"(TM) conference on October 15th and continuing with the BlogWorld & New Media Expo and Conference October 16th-17th.

I'll be attending this show as a participant. This is the only industry-wide tradeshow, conference, and media event dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of new media including Blogging, Podcasting, Social Media, Online Video, Music, TV, Radio, Gaming, Entertainment and Communities.

This event also features the largest new media conference in the world including more than 50 seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from iconic personalities on the leading-edge of online technology and internet-savvy business.

If you are currently blogging, podcasting, vlogging, producing other forms of new media content, entering the new media industry, or researching ways to leverage new media for your large or small company, then you need to be at the only comprehensive new media convention--BlogWorld & New Media Expo. Located in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center at: 3150 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

2009-07-10T11:04:00.009-04:00

I haven't read this book yet, but I love the idea behind it!

The book is called
“10-10-10,” written by Suzy Welch. The core premise is that as a part of decision making, you should apply a 10-10-10 rule.

Essentially, whenever you make a decision, you should be asking yourself what the impact of your decision be in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years. This gives a different perspective than your typical "split second" decision.

I'll have to remember to ask Sharlyn Lauby about this at the HR Florida state conference when I am live blogging there in August.

Sharlyn says that 10 years used to be thought of as long term, now three years is long term for strategic planning.

Maybe the sequel will be "3-3-3"!

P.S. - Sharlyn will also be moderating a panel at HR Florida which I will be a part of. The panel is called Blogging and HR: Can the two peacefully co-exist?

Panelists will include well know bloggers such as Kris Dunn, Laurie Ruettimann, Jessica Lee and myself. Please try to attend.

It will be very different than most of the concurrent sessions!

Staying out of a jam

2009-07-09T19:11:00.004-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

Laurie at Punk Rock HR says Walmart is a good topic to get traffic on your blog. Kris Dunn at Hr Capitalist says EFCA is always a big traffic builder.

I'm not as interested in driving traffic to my blog as I am in sharing information and ideas, but Walmart and EFCA are two topics that go together like peanut butter and jelly.

So, here is the subject matter of the post.

I have attached a 4 minute video of a "peaceful labor protest" which took place in California in May 2009. My challenge to you, watch the video and then answer:

Are you ready to deal with this type of situation in your business?
Have you ever seen this level of action as an HR professional?
Do people REALLY hate Walmart???

PS - there were several arrests following this protest that resulted from a fight that broke out after a non-Walmart employee ran the picket line, trying to get to work so he would not lose his job.

Everybodys Talking Slideshare

2009-07-09T07:19:00.001-04:00

This is a generic version of the presentation I have been giving recently to the HR department of a large company that is considering entry into the realm of social media. It is a very basic presentation which includes screenshots of many social media tools and slides showing several examples of how companies are utilizing social media.

Everybodys Talking Slideshare

View more documents from mvndrvrt.

Blogger Panel Video from #SHRM09

2009-07-07T16:04:00.004-04:00

Image of Kris Dunn

HR Bloggers Rule

Here is the video from the Bloggers Panel at 2009 SHRM Conference in New Orleans. The panel was moderated by China Miner Gorman, Chief Operating Officer at SHRM. Participants were Kris Dunn of the HR Capitalist, Lance Haun of Your HR Guy, Jessica Lee of Fistful of Talent, and the infamous Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR.

You can see the recorded video of the streamed bloggers chat here.

Don't handcuff your recruiters

2009-07-07T02:50:00.005-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

This is one of those things I just don't get.

It is also one of those things that makes me go ...."WTF?"

A reader recently shared the following exchange with me about receiving an unsolicited inquiry about their possible interest in applying for a job and their follow up.

Company: Found your profile on LinkedIn and would like to learn more about your background. We are currently recruiting for the position of ____ and your qualifications appear to be a good match.

Are you interested in working for a Fortune 500, publicly traded company recognized as a global leader in our industry?

Reader: I would like to learn more. Can you please share some information about salary range and reporting structures?

Company: Good morning, Company policy requires all candidates to apply on line before we can consider them an applicant. Please apply online at ___

Reader: But I'm not a candidate and I don't know if I want to apply. Can you please call me to speak for a couple of minutes so I can determine my level of interest?

Company: Hi. The position is posted on our website. Can you please apply on line? Thanks

What's wrong with this picture?

Company approaches passive candidate with unsolicited opening, apparently based on LinkedIn profile qualifications. Seems okay so far.
Passive candidate, unsure about level of interest tries to initiate a dialogue with company recruiter who apparently spent time finding them.
Company recruiter, apparently trapped in bureaucracy can't pick up phone to speak to possibly interested candidate.
Candidate becomes immediately confused and turned off by what is obviously a rigid organizational structure overly obsessed with rules and policy.

Why not simply answer a couple of questions, and let the candidate feel the connection that results from a dialogue?

Why not let them de-select themselves before they go into the ATS?

Why the hell even waste your time to bother contacting incredibly valuable passive candidates via LinkedIn if it is against company policy to actually talk with them?

This exchange led the reader to not apply. Employers, here's a tip: try talking to the people you want to recruit or don't bother!

What is HRevolution? - HRevolution '09

2009-07-06T06:02:00.002-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

What is HRevolution? - HRevolution '09

Brought to us by the genius that is @Trish_HR and @BenUebanks, amongst others, but c'mon guys - Cleveland?

What is HRevolution?

It started as an idea. Now It's a movement.

Be be the next one to join us in our quest to revolutionize the HR field!

We are bloggers, thinkers, creatives, and innovative people with a heart for helping others. This conference is going to focus on a few things, but it's up to you to help us decide what!

Here are a few of the developing ideas so far:

* The world of HR blogging and what it has to offer you
* New (and aspiring) HR bloggers
o Deciding your niche
o Creating a blog
o Developing a following
o Networking with other bloggers
* Established HR bloggers
o Dominating your niche
o Marketing your blog
o Driving traffic (SEO)
o Keeping your creative juices flowing
o Video/podcasting
o Community blogging

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Social Media and Human Resources

2009-07-05T08:56:00.007-04:00

This was going to be my own final wrap up for #SHRM09. I would have written it earlier, but I had a major presentation to an HR department staff on Social Media that I had to do on Thursday following #SHRM09, and I lost my final version of the presentation in a computer crash on Tuesday afternoon during Ryan Estis' excellent presentation on employment branding 2.0.

Needless to say, I freaked out, but being a totally committed networker, I went to the tweetup at Ruth Chris steakhouse (one of the conference highlights for me) and then went along for dinner at Broussard's in the French Quarter with a bunch of really smart and committed HR professionals, including many of my blogging peers.

I don't care what you do in HR or who you are, you should wish you had been lucky enough to be hanging out at that table.

I think it might be a business model: "Dinner with the HR social media geniuses!"

So I went to dinner, the carousel bar, and then back to my room, and by sleeping only 4 hours out of the next 48 hours - I rebuilt the complete presentation and delivered it on time with smashing results.

My main point is a simple one, yet powerful.

If you are in business, and especially if you are a major brand, you are already involved in the social media dialogue. The choice your company faces is whether you want to do anything to proactively manage, direct or influence the conversation by taking part in that dialogue. My advice is that you should be, but that decision is not an appropriate one for every organization.

Which brings me to my concluding thoughts on #SHRM09.

SHRM and Social Media

I am thrilled to see the approach that SHRM took this year, not only by working with those of us in HR who are immersed in social media by allowing us press access to the conference, but also by incorporating pieces of social media into the actual conference. This included providing access to various speeches including the opening speech by Jack Welch via their web site, and the awesome panel of HR blogging experts on the final day, that was moderated by SHRM COO China Miner Gorman. If you aren't a regular twitter user, China and many other members of the SHRM staff have adopted Twitter wholeheartedly and are using it as an outreach tool to HR professionals. Jack Welch is also on twitter and mentioned it in his speech.

It was also noticeable that many of the speakers had incorporated aspects of social media such as video into the usual drab and boring PowerPoint slide decks.

HR professionals are already engaged in the social media dialogue whether you know it or not. The choice you face is whether or not you want to do anything on an individual basis to proactively manage, direct or influence the conversation taking place around you. My advice is that you should be, but that decision is not an appropriate one for every HR professional.

So my final impression of #SHRM09 is that while it may not yet be at a tipping point, members of the HR community are slowly being herded like cats into coming to grips with social media.

To paraphrase one of the people that I was seated at the table with on my last night at #SHRM, being there with all those committed intelligent and engaged people is exactly the type of HR community that was I looking for when I first started using social media and networking as a professional. It was fun. It was vibrant, and I believe it is the future of Human Resources.

Get on board. There are many of us who would be glad to help you!

See you in San Diego for #SHRM10, and many of you in August in Orlando for #HRFlorida!

Thought Leaders talk at #SHRM09

2009-07-03T09:15:00.004-04:00

The SHRM Conference in New Orleans offered unparalled opportunities for networking this year. This was by far the most web connected and audience interactive National Conference I have ever attended. People were tweeting, blogging, ~~getting loaded,~~ uploading and videoing.

It was unique due to that connectivity for a couple of reasons. Many of the best minds in the HR profession were sharing information on stage, in person, and on the web. There was a lot to be learned.

Since people could communicate via the Web from virtually anywhere, a lot of information was exchanged beyond the event. THis process began even before Jack Welch hit the stage for the opening keynote, and continued throughout Jack's speech and over the next 4 days.

Here is a whimsical sampling of what some of the greatest minds in HR were discussing "behind the scenes" on Twitter. See if you can match the tweet with the tweeple. Leave your answers in the comments. The one who ~~gets all 10 right~~ comes the closest will receive a valuable piece of #SHRM09 swag from my swag bag.

Your tweeple to choose from include:

Libby Sartain - @libbysartain
Kris Dunn - @kris_dubb
Jack Welch - @Jack_welch
Laurie Ruettimann - @lruettimann
China Miner Gorman - @SHRMcoo
Keith Ferrazzi - @keithferrazzi
Sharlyn Lauby - @sharlyn_lauby
Michael Long - @theredrecruiter
Traci Deveau - @Devoted2HR
Pamela J. Green - @SHRMCMO

1. "Just arrived in NOLA six hours late. Thanks, Continental. Thanks for nothing."

2. "2 hours til I speak to my heroes at Society for Human Resource Mgmt conference in New Orleans. Quick stop for beignets first."

3. "Billy Mays just died? What is going on!?"

4. "At Deanie's Seafood on Iberville having an amazing Bloody Mary--it's better than the coffee I never got. And cures all that ails you."

5. "Me tweeting at #SHRM09 is like Les Miles tweeting at the Superbowl - says my football coach husband!"

6. "Incidentally, Jack's tie has horizontal blue stripes on a yellow tie! He's still in the ice cream color family! Jack Rocks!"

7. "Suzy Welch is 4 seats away. Cool!"

8. "My 50 year old neighbor just put a hoops move on a phantom defender in his driveway. It ain't Welch, but it'll do until i get to NO!"

9. "One way: make the boss smarter than the question they asked. That is how U move the company forward."

10. "Jack: (last advice) Do not be victims. Stand up or move on."

Have fun, and check out a moment of Jack Welch at #SHRM09 in the video below!

Getting Strategic with the HR Bartender

2009-07-02T05:29:00.010-04:00

Image of Sharlyn Lauby

One of the best sessions I saw in New Orleans was "Fail to plan, or plan to fail" presented by my blogging buddy, Sharlyn Lauby over at HR Bartender.

Sharlyn used a great mix of information, humor and practical advice to drive home a major point: If you want to be effective in HR, be strategic.

Her self-described approach to being strategic is based on being practical.

Here are some things she shared that were valuable:

Strategic planning is like the conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in "Alice in Wonderland". If you don't know where you want to go, then it really doesn't matter how you get there. Avoid this by knowing where you want to go, and then design a plan that will get you there most effectively.
If you haven't seen the video called "Did you Know?", you need to do so very quickly. It is a great way to introduce yourself and your executive team to the social web and how it impacts the world. Sharlyn used it as a very effective opening to her presentation. You can find it embedded at the bottom of this article. Take 5 minutes and watch it. It will rock your world!
You have to keep up to be effective. McDonald's is chasing Starbucks in coffee right now. Who expected that to happen? Starbucks didn't plan effectively while McDonald's did, and it has created a business race. Strategic planning helps you win in business.
Simple 4 step plan to do strategic planning: Step 1: Formulation Step 2: Evaluation Step 3: Creation Step 4: Evaluation
Some simple exercises to drive strategic thinking: 1) Articulate your mission and value proposition in 30 seconds and 2) Take 30 seconds and answer: "What will your company be doing in 5 years?
3 years is now long term. It used to be that 10 years was consider long term in business. Important to keep up!
Values of the organization drive the performance of the organization. When it comes to standards of behavior, ethics, and connecting values to operations, the tone established by the CEO matters.
Use SMART goals

The HR Bartender mixed up a powerful cocktail on strategic planning, and made it a Happy Hour special!

Don't forget to watch the video below. It is powerful!