Author Archives: Ben

Friday free for all

Friday free for allFridays are turning into a sort of free for all. I often get requests about what l’m working on, and I also have a hard time keeping track of everything that’s going on around me, so I’ll share a few updates.

  • My buddy Stephen Harrison’s blog “HRwhY?” has opened officially, and I hope you’re subscribed. You can expect good things from him.
  • My pal Robin Schooling wrote a guest post on HR fishbowl in the #TrenchHR series.
  • I now have (for your viewing pleasure) a random post generator. The formatting is wonky, but the content is still good.
  • I also created a RocketHR page, because a lot of people don’t realize I also write a blog for my local SHRM chapter. Continue reading →

Comic Book Leadership

comic book leadersShall I make yet another confession? Yes, I believe I shall.

I like comic books.

While I haven\’t been an active reader in years, I still love flipping through them at the bookstore. Recently my brother passed me a copy of a magazine that had an article about Marvel Comics (the company that made the movies for Spiderman, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man, etc.). The article focused on their editor in chief, Joe Quesada. I think there were some great leadership (and HR) tenets that were covered, and I\’ll share a few of them with you. Continue reading →

SHRM Chapter Mentoring Program

SHRM chapter mentoring programToday is going to be exciting. I get to join the rest of my peers and kick off my SHRM chapter mentoring program (known as NASHRM Mentor University). Why is it exciting? Well, I get to spend some close, personal time with a wide range of HR professionals in all stages of their careers, and I get to do it for $50. While I debated the value of other high cost HR conferences, this thing sounds like it’s value-packed and dirt cheap. Check out the post below that I wrote forRocketHR after I found out about making the short list.

Want to get mentored? Well, you\’ll have to wait until next year. This year\’s participants in the NASHRM mentor project were announced last week, and I am thrilled to be on that exclusive list. The mastermind of this project, Rusty Brand, passed along this comment: Continue reading →

Gen Y, Generations, and Stereotypes

gen y generation differences stereotypesOne thing I often look back and realize that I miss is the interaction and discussion in my college classes. The ones that I learned the most in were not just a professor spouting meaningless information from a podium. The really great classes had a lot of student interaction, and that was facilitated best by a good professor.

This has been on my mind in the past week as I\’ve followed the conversation on Gen Y, generations, and stereotypes in this post. The comments section is probably 3-4 times as long as the actual post, but it has some great discussions that I feel are necessary. Continue reading →

Why I started blogging

I absolutely love blogging. It’s one of those activities that I can just lose myself in. I’ve wondered for a while now about whether I should do any blogging about, well, blogging! In that vein, I did an informal Twitter poll the other night and asked if anyone wanted to see more posts about blogging. There were quite a few responses (both public and private), and I think it’s worth a shot. While some of you aren’t bloggers, the information should be interesting and it could give you some helpful tips if your organization is attempting to make headway in the social media space. Plus, this is my house. I make the rules. :-)

I’ll kick it off with a nostalgic post about why I started blogging.

In the beginning… Continue reading →

Local SHRM Chapter-3 reasons to find one and join today

This post has some ideas for why you should think about, and maybe even join, a local SHRM chapter… Enjoy!

Wouldn\’t it be nice if there was something to make this HR thing easier to do? Maybe if there was some sort of way to meet other professionals, share ideas, and trade best practice tips, then we all would feel less like we\’re treading water and more like we\’re making a difference. Wait a minute, there is a way to do that, and it\’s your local SHRM chapter!

Now, before I get into the meat of the post, I’d like to say that not all SHRM chapters are great. Some of them just plain suck. And you know what? This post may or may not be for you. If not, check back later. Or read something inspiring. On the other hand, some chapters really do rock, and this post can help you leverage that for your own career. Continue reading →

7 more reasons to hire zombies

feed the zombiesIf you didn’t catch the original post on hiring zombies, then you might want to check it out. It will help this post to make more sense! Several of the comments on that post had some great responses, and I’ve incorporated them into this sequel. Okay, less talk, more fun. Here we go!

  1. Zombies simplify the succession planning process. When an executive dies, just bring them back to life.
  2. Zombies don’t need lunch or smoke breaks. 
  3. If performance is an issue, just shoot the offender and bring in a new one.
  4. They are very inexpensive labor and not covered by the FLSA.
  5. You’ll never have to have the “your thong is showing” conversation. 
  6. While body odor would be a problem, the other zombies wouldn’t really care to complain.
  7. If you have to fire a zombie, you can be sure it won’t cry.

Do you have a reason to hire a zombie? I’d love to hear it! Leave a comment below and maybe we can carry this into a trilogy.

Photo by u2canreed.