Almost 20 years ago I read a book that made me want to see around corners and over the horizon. That book was called “Unleashing the Killer App.” Far from a perfect book – but for me at the time, with my background and exposure to technology – it was an eye-opening read. It really reinforced the need to constantly …
Technology is eating the world. Everything – and I don’t say this with any hyperbole – is technology. Even the human stuff we do every day (or should do every day) is a function of technology. I’m almost positive if HR (and business in general) didn’t have email, SMS, or slack we wouldn’t know how to get a hold of …
As I think back on my career and recall the times I had the best work experiences—where I was connected and engaged the most—it almost always involved a crisis or a pressure-filled project. I can vividly remember working on a big Chrysler account or a huge GM Parts incentive program. We worked 24/7 for weeks. In one case, we slept …
A few short weeks from now many of us will be sitting down with friends, the family we like (and may even love), engaging with new and old acquaintances, laughing, chatting, reveling, playing games and connecting on a truly human level. The rest of us will have Thanksgiving dinner at our own, or a relative’s house, arguing about politics, misremembering …
I’m not going to do my usual screed on why employee engagement is a Sisyphean effort, and almost every intervention is at best a short-term fix to a long-term problem. I believe 90% of the interventions we talk about are like handing out sandwiches to starving people and thinking you’ve fixed their food-acquisition problem. Employee engagement has never been a …
I’ve been fascinated with the idea of “antifragile” ever since I read about it in Nicholas Taleb’s book by the same name. His book is about how systems react to stress, attack, or change. Fragile systems are easily damaged when exposed to negative change. They operate best when things just stay as they are. A robust system is one that …
Ask someone over 60 what “piecemeal” work is, and they can probably give you an answer without thinking too much about it. Ask someone under 40, and they will stare at you blankly for a bit until they connect some long-ago memory listening to their grandfather or grandmother talk about their early work experiences. Piecemeal work is a job where …
I read recently that 90% of the world’s data has been created in the last two years alone. Notice it doesn’t say “knowledge.” Just data. I can’t help but think when that much… let’s call it “stuff” to not offend delicate ears… is generated that quickly, we are guaranteed to miss a few important ideas. And I think that’s okay. …
In the context of the real world “employer branding” is fairly new. According to Wikipedia it was first defined in the Journal of Brand Management in 1996 as an attempt to connect consumer brand management techniques to human resources. The first book on employer branding was published in 2005 (The Employer Brand, Bringing the Best of Brand Management to People …
Along with employee engagement, performance management is the current “it” girl in the HR world. Posts, tweets, articles, speeches, and studies are plentiful…and contradictory. We have one camp saying you shouldn’t do performance management and the other side saying we need more of it! No middle ground it seems. From my point of view, I see performance management following the …
