I like the way people have really gotten their knickers in a twist over the many lists John Sumser has created over time. Bully for him. Everyone’s got different influencers, none of us should really have the same unless we’re intent on becoming drones. But Sumser’s list got me to thinking about influencers and to look at my career, and who has made the most impact.
Barbara Harbin. Barb was an incredibly detail oriented HR Manager I worked for while providing HR support for the Worldwide Sales division at a telecom company here in Maryland. She drove me crazy with some of her details. But she got me to ask questions, and be thorough. She pushed me to handle all kinds of employee relation issues. Barb also hired me when I was 6 months pregnant. That was not normal back in 1994. She is also duly noted as the person that gave me my “break” into sourcing, letting me not only roll into a dedicated sourcing gig but also giving me the opportunity to start working from home.
Mike Duff. Mike would be stunned to find his name on this list, but he taught me to question authority, to not create unending reports and metrics if they were just make work, to get to the crux of it all.
Bill Craib. I was one of those AIRS attendees that would want to know who my trainer was and move heaven and earth to take trainings with a particular individual. Bill was the reason I traveled from DC to Boston in 2000 to take the earlier incarnation of SearchLab and get certified. That class made a serious impact on my sourcing and my career.
Nancy Anderson. I credit Nancy with stopping me from committing what would have been the biggest mistake in my career. Sometimes staying with the small company where you can run your own show is much better than going to the big name company where you’re a grunt. It’s important to find your best fit.
Bill Denning. In your lifetime I hope you will meet a few people that are really, truly, “good people”. Bill is not only good people, but an excellent recruiter. If I need advice, I call on Bill. I always smile when I think of him and how he called me up for a three month temporary gig that turned in to four years of some of the best sourcing I’ve ever been involved with.
I became a sourcer at a time when there weren’t many others dedicated to being one. I’ve had to find people to keep me on my toes. In every company I’ve worked at, with the exception being AIRS, I have had no one that was my peer or mentor. Obviously I read a lot and am pretty darn resourceful. Influencers, to me, are the people that have gotten me to think, that haven’t let me take the easy way out and have certainly expected me to give my best every day. If these individuals hadn’t been part of my early career, who knows if I’d be in what I describe as the “ultimate sourcing job”. But I thank them all.
