It all started with a lie.

No, I wasn’t the one telling the lie. Instead it was a line manager who sat two rows over from me who, as I learned later, was insanely jealous of everyone. In retrospect all the warning signs were there we all chose to ignore them (funny how that happens in HR)

I was slated to attend a work related conference and was bumped from the schedule at the last minute. From a conference perspective, it was slated to be a cross between a sales rally/awards conference/fraternity formal, with the dress code to match.

Promises were made, tickets were purchased, hotels were booked and I was all set. Then my req load changed. All of a sudden I had 10 new ones hit the board and in the immortal words of the line manager who didn’t officially manage me “Sorry, you can’t leave the desk with that series of mission critical reqs on the board”. In my brain the dialogue was more like “Ummm, yeah, I’m not going to recruit on that crap so I’m taking your place. Sucks for you “

It was a huge blessing in disguise. About 6 months later, I get the gumption to say to my new director “Hey there’s this social recruiting conference I’d like to attend and oh by the way I already have an unused plane ticket.”
A few years, and several recruiting conferences later, I’m making my way back to where it all started.

I still remember the names and the initial awkward hellos at the “tweet-up”. DeVaughn, Oxford, Ruettimann, McClure, Hogan, Winegardner, Hoyt… amazing professionals and practitioners in the industry space. I remember walking back to my hotel room wondering just what in the hell I had gotten into and asking myself where would this take me?

I left California full of dreams, ideas, and a group of like people who would eventually become friends.

In the years that have passed, technology has changed, techniques have changed, and even the conference has changed, but the end result remains the same.

The choice is yours, become an innovator and lead, or follow the innovators. Me? Well, I’m gonna choose to be accidentally innovative.

It’s served me well in the past, why start changing now?

April has always been a crazy month for me personally & professionally for as long as I can remember. Hence the reason why I’ve been a bit busy and not able to post as often. We finished this semester possibly exceeding our office goals (largely in part to the new colleagues who joined our team)

I originally shared this video on my Facebook feed. It’s a great reminder of accomplishment, and gives us all a bit of hope for the future:

I’ve got a few trips coming up, client visits, conferences to attend, old friend to see and new ones to make. I’m looking forward to helping moving the needle forward for next years grads.

My week started with the typical crazy that is indicative of our busy lives. School lunches had to be made, diapers changed, homework reviewed, bits and pieces of laundry put away or washed. It was sizing up to be an average week here at home.

But then I was hit with something that I was not prepared for and that I never thought that I would have to confront this issue so early in my older daughter’s life.

My daughter told me a story about some kids in school and how a certain group of kids would not let another child play with them because she was black.

Yes, you did read that correctly.

I had no freaking clue on how to handle this one. It’s not like I could grab a book lookup “Kids making comments about color” and find a solution.

So I asked “How did that make you feel Katherine?” She replied that it was not very nice and that she went to tell the teacher what she saw. Relieved that she could see how the child was hurt and that she did tell someone, I needed to make sure she knew why it was wrong.

“Katherine why did that bother you” I asked? She looks me in the eye and says “Daddy, you and mommy never talk about the color of someone’s skin. We can’t be mean just because people have different skin than mine. Right Daddy?” All I could do was give her a hug say yes and that she did the right thing.

If only it were that simple?

How many times have we had to give advice? Well if you’re in the HR profession, I’d gather that it is several times a day.

Now what if you’ve got to give HR advice to your spouse?

Yeah, that some difficult stuff.

Sometimes the best advice you can give is to just shut up, listen, and resist the urge to treat your spouse like an employee.

Now, only if I can get my wife to pony up a co-pay? That would be legendary!

And a first class trip to sleeping on the couch.

Whew. Things have been very busy here in South Florida. Just to recap, I managed to make up some ground this semester, hired a coordinator (who was a huge help in making up the ground), dealing with my sometimes challenging family, trying to keep in touch with friends and other peeps, and have been generally dealing with whole ton of work related crap.

I know, totally boring.

However, throughout all the crazy, I managed to get tapped to teach a portion of the PHR/SPHR certification classes and let’s just say the experience is, well, it’s interesting.

See about three years ago, I was on the other side of the desk, taking the classes to prep for the exam. I was part of a team that was energetic, idealistic, hardworking, and politically savvy. Let’s just say there was no room for failure because the peer pressure to pass was enormous.

Fast forward to two weeks ago and I’m nervously prepping for my first class. I had been assigned module one, strategic business.

Now I wanted to approach the material as a business person, not as an HR person. Why? Well because that’s my background. For years, I’ve been saying that our HR brethren need to understand business first and foremost. I mean how else will we earn our seat at the proverbial “table”?

I started the class with a series of questions: How many are taking the “P” as opposed to the “S”?, How many are currently working in HR?, and the kicker question How many have business degrees?

Let’s just say the numbers for the first two questions were higher than the last one.

Undaunted, we all slogged through the material and you know what? I’m happy to say that there’s hope. Eyes were opened, topics were discussed, points were made, and I even tried to explain lean six sigma in less than five minutes.
Sure it was a lot of material to digest, but this group gets it. They ask good questions, they challenge each other and they share relevant and pertinent information.

So for the jaded, cynics out there (and at times I include myself in that group) it may be time to stop being soooo jaded. These peeps get it, and they’re going to be amazing professionals and make their employers and the overall profession proud.

Now I hope they all pass the damn test.

The family stopped for a few minutes this evening during dinner to watch Pope Benedict XVI in Cuba live on television.

I couldn’t help think as I watched His Holiness saying mass and the network cutting to shots of Raul Castro on just how both have missed opportunities. One to pressure an end to a criminal and horrible regime, and the other a chance to take him up on the offer.

Funny how both of them could possibly fit interchangeably into those roles.

Back to some HR related content soon, I’m working on one about Tennis, HR, and volleying from the baseline. I know, great stuff…(yawn)

Photo credit: http://m24digital.com/en/2012/03/26/pope-benedict-xvi-arrived-in-cuba-i-am-convinced-that-cuba-is-looking-forward/

It’s tough being a Floridian these days. Sure we were known in the past for making some pretty horrible mistakes, for example screwing up a presidential election. But recently we’ve outdone ourselves by pissing on the rights of our fellow citizens in order to build into the swamp, and giving a billionaire a baseball stadium. Said billionaire then goes and hires Ozzie Guillen to skipper the team? Really?

It’s as if I need to show up to the next HR conference wearing Dolphins jersey and a paper bag on my head.

I do wish to share one bright shining example of reason set adrift in this sea of stupidity and sunshine. The best part is that the writers of the blog remain (at least to the general public) anonymous.

I got turned on to the Justice Building Blog a few years ago and remain a daily, loyal reader. Some of the stuff they write/discuss is over my head as I’m just a lay person and not an attorney, other times; they write what columnists from the Herald should be saying with more frequency.

However recently one of the authors wrote a small bit about the Trayvon Martin tragedy that I feel compelled to share with you:

A Florida Grand Jury will be impaneled to investigate the death of an unarmed seventeen year old minor child. Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a 26 year old neighborhood watch volunteer.

We are not advocating the lynching of Mr. Zimmerman. Nor do we decry the failure to immediately arrest him. Getting the facts and getting it right is important. The delay just becomes harder to swallow because we all know the matter would have been handled differently if the roles were reversed. - Justice Building Blog, March 21, 2012

Well said Rumpole, well said.

Here’s one for the “Where was HR?” files:

“At law firm, orange will land you in the unemployment line” – The Miami Herald

This is embarrassing for the firm, the employees, and the HR profession (or in this case the lack thereof).

Happy Monday!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to change.

It’s been a very busy time of year, hence the length of time between posts. Things are good, goals are close to being met and we’re collecting data. Lots of fun stuff.

There was one recurring theme that when I do have a chance to catch my breath, I find myself thinking about it more and more. It all started with a simple client presentation and a very convincing statement.

I had just finished presenting our standard info/preso and asked our clients to share more information about their company and their goals for student interns. We both asked and answered a series of questions and then the client looks me dead in the eye and says:

“John, it took us a lot of time to get to this stage, but we know who we are and we know what we want to be to our customers. Clarity is a tough strategy to understand and embrace”

Clarity? Did he just say that he had reached a point where they were completely clear on their strategy?

Wow all I could do was smile.

How many times do we let our original mission, vision or values become cloudy? What about when we decide to bastardize our employment brands? What about our own personal brands? (Now you know why I tend to hate the whole self actualizing process…)

So dear friends, with today being the ides of March, I want you to think of Caesar. Imagine the multitude of situations, campaigns, personnel decisions that he may have had to make as he was marching back to Rome. And when faced with crossing the Rubicon, to seize his future destiny, the absolute need for clarity.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go make a few bad salad jokes and try not to get too wrapped up in that hokey self-actualization crap

The Army honor guards silently strode down the main aisle of the church, saluted, and unfurled the American flag. From the rear of the church, the bugler started to play taps and I stood up a little straighter and tried to avoid shifting nervously.

This is how I started my Saturday afternoon, the calm and cool of a church, where I had come to pay my respects to my friend’s grandfather.

As I was making my way up to the service, I thought back to the relatively carefree days of my youth. To a time bordering on the beginning fringe of becoming a teenager and how this man had played a major role in shaping the professional, husband, and father I am today.

See, he didn’t have to help me, he could have said no but he said yes. He didn’t have to help the countless others who came asking, but we all knew he did. His ability to show love and kindness is a standard that I may never get close to achieving in my lifetime.

The honor guards have now folded the flag with military precision and have placed it in the hands of the family. They solemnly salute, pivot, and exit silently from the church. Mass is said and the crowd of people make their way to the parish hall.

It’s been close to twenty years since I’ve seen some of these people. I feel like it’s been an entire lifetime. I’ve been transported to the awkwardness of my youth, tongue tied, nervous, and not knowing how to break the ice with people I’ve known forever. It’s as if I’m fifteen again.

The smiles and hugs make the years and the awkwardness slip away. We chat about our current lives and our kids. We laugh. We take a moment to watch a slide show and chuckle at the funny pictures, and we’re reminded of just how kind and loving he was.

I remember mustering up the courage to thank him for the favor he had done for me. I can’t remember if he said you’re welcome, I just remember giving him a huge hug that seemed to help take the weight of my worries off my shoulders.

Years later, I recalled the real lessons he taught us all, not by any lecture or written paper, but by his actions. Be kind to one another, listen, laugh, love unconditionally, and if you can help someone, do so unconditionally.

I say goodbye and quietly walk back to my car. Smiling only to myself I think of some of the funny photos that were shared this afternoon. I quietly pass by the church and whisper “Thank you Ed, thank you” and I realize that he’s smiling saying to me and everyone else “You’re Welcome”.