I am someone who benefits from a community of support and encouragement, which is really good because I need it. I am imperfect and flawed.
Yesterday, Chris Ferdinandi published a book for HR professionals called Do Amazing Things. I tweeted about it, and I was pretty excited to read the material. Do Amazing Things is a collection of short, actionable ideas — things you can do this year to become a better HR professional.
When I downloaded my copy, I left a comment on the blog that said something to the effect of, “What if I’m a mediocre HR professional? What if I want to do mediocre things?” I can’t remember exactly what I wrote, but it was something flip and distant like that.
I had a Bill Mays voice in my head, like an infomercial, and I was hoping to sarcastically capture the sentiment of most people in America who think that HR can’t do amazing things. I can hear them in my head. “Do amazing things in HR? Are you nuts?”
This book answers that challenge. HR does amazing things. Daily.
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My comment was stupid and thoughtless, though. It sucked the life out of the authors. I am sorry.
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I’ve been blogging since 2004, and I have been writing Punk Rock HR since 2007, and the blog continues to grow because of the support I have from really great people and HR leaders. I have various audiences and constituencies that come here, and it’s hard to create a voice that translates well to all three groups.
- My first audience is disaffected job seekers who come here to learn the truth about HR.
- My second audience is the general population of working adults who are just sick of business as usual.
- Then I have a third audience of HR professionals and recruiters who come here because they support what I do.
I don’t mind upsetting HR people on issues, but I’m mortified to think that I would personally offend the authors of the book based on my comments on a blog.
For that, I am truly sorry.
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So go download the ebook and check out the blogs/websites of the authors.
- China Miner Gorman from SHRM
- Michael VanDervort from Human Race Horses
- Lance Haun from Rehaul
- Karla Porter from the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber in PA
- Paul Hebert from I2I
- Jim D’Amico, recruiter extraordinaire
- Victorio Milian from Creative Chaos Consultant
- Ben Eubanks from UpstartHR
- Steve Boese from Knowledge Infusion
- Nathaniel Rottenberg from Rypple
- Trish McFarlane from HR Ringleader
- Jessica Lee from APCO Worldwide
Also, I appreciate the honest conversation about my comments. I still believe that feedback is for suckers, but I am 100% open to having honest and candid conversations about feelings & behaviors. Feedback is a corporate tool. Feelings and emotions are real and deserve prompt attention.
xo/laurie
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{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
While I find it nice that you apologized, the question does still stand. Not everyone has a goal to be a rockstar or even stand out from the crowd. Some people in HR (And in every other department) want to just do their job and go home. That shouldn’t offend anyone.
Well that’s an interesting question we haven’t discussed in awhile on Punk Rock HR.
- What if you just want to be a B or C player?
- What if you’re a B or C player and you can’t be an A player?
- What if you just want to do your job and go home? Is that okay? Are you morally bankrupt? Are you a communist?
I have to tell you, when I worked at Pfizer, I worked for the money. I didn’t admit to this at first, but I remember telling my boss, “I’m working for new landscaping.”
She was like, c’mon Laurie, you can do better. Aren’t you a woman? Aren’t you a feminist? I am, but really, it came down to the cash. We liked to travel. I wanted to go back to Maui. It was $30K to landscape my yard in Kalamazoo. We cut down 20 dead/dying trees. All that shit doesn’t happen without me working for a company that pays a lot of money.
Here’s the weird thing: I wasn’t trying to light the world on fire, but in the end, I did really great work. As many of my Pfizer readers can verify, I did my worst work when I tried to play politics. In fact, once I dropped the veneer of giving a shit, things went better for me. The last six months of my job were the best six months of my career. Crazy.
My experience was exactly the same.
When I tried to be amazing, I sucked. I took myself and everything else WAY too seriously, and I was completely ineffective. I feel sorry for the people who worked with me then.
When I got over myself and stopped trying to be SuperHRGirl, I was much, much better at my job.
Not to say this has anything to do with the book in question, which I haven’t read…but I know a few of the authors, and they’re all fantastic. In fact, I think my experience has more to do with my own personal work style than anything that would be useful to anyone else.
But I think there are other people out there who do good work at companies without looking to be superstars in their field…and that’s okay.
What’s this superstar crap anyway– it’s not like you flew down and saved a bus-load of senior citizens after it went over a cliff or something— Einstein is the only superstar— and his hair proved it!
@Laurie— Yours is but one view of many, but still a very important angle on HR-Life in general. Thanks for being the smart lovable little weirdo like everyone else.
@Laurie
I didn’t see the comment, but it would have just made me laugh. I think you can rest securely enough on your reputation to know that those of us who know you would know that it was not intended to be a slam comment. Speaking as one of the authors, I still adore you!
I’m with you on the other, more important point to be found in this comment run.
You are a better HR person whjen you keep it real….
Dude, like Michael, I didn’t see the comment, and I would have reacted the same way.
If your mediocre you are probably not going to seek out new ideas or new ideas on your own, and that’s fine. Not everyone can, will, or should be amazing. There is a place for the day to day role players in any organization. The thing that you bring up that I think is worth exploring is quantifying the value of role players vs. A players. We spend so much time worrying about how to engage and manage the A players, but we don’t always give the same attention to the larger portion of the staff, which is the day to day workhorses. HR pro’s should explore whether or not that is a liability we are missing.
Don’t apologize, there’s nothing to apologize for, diversity of thought is imperative to our existence. The support you have given me is more than suitable evidence to the fact that you willingly do amazing things.
@ Sarah – Being a rock star or stand out does not suit me either. I still appreciate all the tips this book gives us “to become a better HR professional.” Ignore them at your own risk!!!!
Hammer, welcome to nail’s head.
I tried the management route. Leading projects and processes was great and rewarding. Writing procedures and creating new processing forms? Totally rocked. Trying to lead people and motivate them to do the basics of their job? Gave me migraines and dry heaves. No thanks.
I don’t want to be the Idiot In Charge, but I can deliver being the strong “second string” guy – the solid performer that bosses and team leads can count on.
But admitting this seems to be about as wise office politics-wise for one’s career as farting in an elevator. Many people question your focus and drive (if not your sanity) and wondering if your lack of management skills makes you a liability.
To me, it seems wiser to match skills and strengths to the individual (with an eye on developing other skills and expanding their horizons). But most organizations I’ve been a part of seem to hammer the management track home at the exclusion of other types of development. Which makes me wonder: if everyone’s in management, who exactly are they managing? It becomes a pyramid scheme, as if Bernie Madoff was running the org charts…..
I read the e-book and totally appreciate the advice. Right now i’m in a holding pattern at work, knowing my job (and company) is gone at March end… i’m not rocking anyone…. but i am providing superstar support to the other people who are leaving and transitioning out with me. Does that make me a B or C player? Maybe. But I want to do what i can in the time ive got and screw the “strategic direction” bit. I’m focusing on my ex-company not screwing over its soon to be ex-employees.
*Rocket Man song plays*
I wouldn’t worry about it. It takes all kinds of HR people to make this world function. An organized, efficient payroll and benefits person who is happy being a good benefits/payroll person is just as valuable as a superstar HR executive.
Damn it, Laurie, don’t apologize. There must be some mediocre, ordinary, average people in a department, company, world, so that the true AMAZING folks can be identified. If we are honest, we benchmark from the average, ordinary and mediocre, so that we can stand “head and shoulders above” those poor meer mortal who carry the load from day to day to feed the kids, cats, dogs, etc.
Your remarks didn’t harm anyone but the ego sensitive.
Laurie,
You totally didn’t have to write this post, but thanks for the public apology.
Regarding the discussion at hand: Is there anything wrong with showing up, doing your work, and going home? Of course not!
But is that really what people want to strive for? It’s not what I want to. And for most of the HR people I talk to, it’s not what they want either.
Unfortunately, in the HR world, that means people spend a lot of time talking about “how to get a seat at the table” and “thing HR can do to improve.”
The Do Amazing Things ebook is about taking action. It’s stepping out of the echo-chamber and actually doing things to make HR better instead of just talking about it.
Not for you? No problem. But if I’m being honest, I’m shocked by what appears to be a trend of celebrating mediocrity within the comments section here.
- Chris
If we were all amazing, then no one would be amazing, because the standard for amazing would then be average, right?
I am not an HR professional, so I guess the book isn’t relevant to me. But this thread is. We all do what we do for whatever reasons we have for doing them. Some of us achieve adequate status, and by the word’s definition, that’s OK.
Some of us, myself included, shoot for amazing all the time. And you know what? You reach that point where Forest Gump just stops running and you look at the world and say, where have I come?
And then some of us are just amazing by being who we are. And we draw a varied crowd of supporters who like to call themselves “punks” when they write on our blogs and live vicariously through our amazing-ness. I hope to be like that someday.
Keep on being amazing and real Laurie. That’s why we love ya!
I don’t see a lot of celebrating mediocrity here. I mean, that’s not what I’m saying, for sure.
What I’m saying is this: When I was trying to be Super Amazing HR Girl (SAHRG), I sucked. Because while I was trying to be SAHRG, I was was focused on me. How can *I* be fabulous? How can *I* get *my* seat at the table? How can *I* make everyone love me and the rest of HR?
Gag me.
When I cut that crap out and just focused on working, I got much more effective. I started thinking about what would make the company better, so I could work for companies that didn’t tank. I started thinking about what work I needed to get done, and then…doing it. I stopped focusing so much on me. I also stopped thinking about that whole “seat at the table” thing (and I’ve never met an effective HR person in real life who ever breathed those words. Ever.).
And then my career took off. All I had to do was stop focusing on being fabulous, and I got much better.
I’ve said before that one of the things I hated most about HR was the way HR people sit around and constantly talk about the profession, about how they can be taken seriously, about how no one likes them, talking about how fabulous some colleagues are and how terrible others are (the lists! Oh my gawd, the lists!).
We need to shut up and just do some work. People would take us a lot more seriously if we weren’t constantly talking about ourselves. Let’s spend that time learning how to help the company make more money instead. That’s what we’re here for.
Kerry,
I think you and I are actually on the same page on this. I consider “be amazing” driving the business and helping employees kick ass. There’s nothing self-centered about that.
And the seat-at-the-table discussion – we need to stop talking about the table. Just go out there and rock!
Chris
Oh, wait, I forgot my analogy:
Captain Sullenberger, the Airways pilot who landed in the Hudson. Was he saying to himself, “Lemme do an amazing thing right now?” Or was he calmly applying his training and staying focused on the job…and saving 150 or so people in the process?
Or the video I just saw of a guy rescuing someone from a collapsed building in Haiti. Did that guy say, “Okay, so there’s an earthquake, and I’m going to go do an amazing thing!” Or did he keep removing rubble until he got to the person in trouble?
If you focus on being amazing, you aren’t focusing on the work. Doing the work is what’s going to make you amazing. The rest is just distraction.
And in HR, doing the work means focusing on the company, the line of business…not on the HR world. We need to stop talking to so many HR people and start talking to people in the business instead. We’re WAY too insular. Spending all our time with our own kind is unhealthy. I see all these HR folks online who mostly just talk to other HR folks, and I don’t get it. Wouldn’t we learn more from people in other areas? Don’t we pretty much have the HR thing down pat? Or are we clustering together so we can commiserate and pat each other on the back…and is that REALLY helping?
(Wait. Didn’t I quit this business? I did. Never mind.)
(for the record, that last comment was typed before I saw Chris’s reply. Maybe we are on the same page.)
Nice topic, Laurie. Maybe I’m cynical today and relate more to your first point..here’s why:
On my way into work today I was listening to an interview on NPR (Tell me more with Michel Martin, brilliant interviewer by the way) of Mika Brzezinski who poured her heart and soul into a position with CBS, sacrificing her sleep and sanity as a mother (causing a tragic accident detailed in the book), hardworking and popular right up until she was fired by new management. Brzezinski at first pretended her role had changed and told her daughters how wonderful it would be for her to stay home with them. It wasn’t until her oldest daughter broke down in school and her teacher confided “your daughter doesn’t want you to have to leave your job for her” that she started being honest about getting fired and the impact it had on her to her family. Brzezinski is back at work on Morning Joe on MSNBC and she now says she views her job as a “relationship with a bad boyfriend. You like him a lot, you think you’re in love with him, you make him dinner and sleep with him but he’s never going to marry you and you need to know that.”
My point is, I think quite a few of us (cough *women*) think we’re going to go in to our job and it’s going to love us and marry us if we “prove ourselves” to it. And your job is definitely NOT going to marry you. You’re not going to hold hands, stroll off into the sunset and change the world together, so why not avoid doing something great and treat your job like a bad boyfriend? Substitute some dinners out, fun times and decent lay with a paycheck and a decent amount of professional respect and not expect miracles? What do y’all HRians think?
/rant
Rock on, Laurie!
@Kerry I get your point, which is nuanced and comes from experience in the field. I know that my perspective on performance and competency was different when I was 25, 30, and now 35. I’m sure it will continue to evolve and change. I’ve also seen people labeled as C players who’ve stepped up and emerged as awesome leaders when the time comes. Sports fans have loads of examples of star performers who were laboring in the minor leagues and the farm teams and then STEPPED UP OUT OF NOWHERE when it matters. I think people who try to do amazing things often try too hard and fail. Try to be a decent human being. Act with integrity. Be kind and respectful. The rest follows.
@Michael Well I am keeping it real 100%. The fact that someone is offended was a good opportunity for me to write about it. Look what it’s produced — a cool discussion! Also, your contribution to the book is great.
@MattyMat xoxoxo
@Puf Thanks so much!
@HR Mark The tips are good. We can all learn to be better HR people. I think being a rock star is overrated and short-lived unless you are Madonna or Mick Jagger — & look at them — they look horrible.
@Patrick So insightful. In an organization of managers, who is being managed and who is working? When I worked for my last organization, you were DIRT if you weren’t a director. We had directors with no direct reports, no budgets, and big egos who felt like they couldn’t interact with lowly managers. I’m like, “I have an audience with the CIO. You have an audience with your kids. Suck it.”
@teresa I love rocketman — oh no wait, that’s Elton John. I love Major Tom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Tom Anyway, back on point, who the hell is amazing every. single. hour. of. the. day? Not even Jesus could live by those standards.
@Ginger I don’t want a superstar in my HR/payroll group. I want competence!
@ali An apology doesn’t hurt me or put me in a position of weakness — so I’m happy to sincerely write that I didn’t mean to offend anyone. Look at me — do I look like a woman who tries to offend other HR people on purpose? I’m an all-around nice woman. I think HR gets a bad rap for being passive-aggressive and whiny, and I just wanted to address any concerns in a forthright manner. I apologized directly to Chris F. and the other author who emailed me, and lots of good stuff has come out of this discussion. No one loses. Everyone wins. Egos are in tact.
@Chris I’m glad you are here. Glad you accepted my apology. Just for the record: no one celebrates mediocrity. That’s not fair to my readers. I think people prioritize differently based on personal values & ethics — and I wouldn’t judge it too harshly. You may ‘bring it’ 24/7, and I have no doubt that you do, but others take a different approach. It takes all kinds of people to make this country work, and some might argue that being AMAZING in the field of Human Resources does nothing for the greater good of humanity. I think the book is great, and I know HR practitioners will benefit from it, but I’m not sure that either one of us is truly qualified to talk about ‘amazing’ work.
@BZ I’m pretty sure that no one is amazing 100% of the time. That’s all i know.
@Stacey Mika Brzezinski is a very interesting woman and I’m so glad you brought her up. Thanks for that. Here’s the link to the interview. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122486158 Shoot, so appropriate. Thanks again.
@Kerry–You and your little red wagon ROCK! If you don’t mind me saying so, I also think you are amazing in the truest sense of the word.
When I say that I shoot for being amazing all the time, it’s not so much that I am trying to impress others, it is just my character to go at things with the greatest gusto I can and shoot for the highest accomplishment possible.
But, I have reached a point in my first career (mental health counselor) where Rocket woman is “burnin’ up in space out here alone.” You can only sustain that kind of trajectory so long and be hit with various kinds of space junk through the years before you say, “I am tired of this.”
Not that I am celebrating mediocrity either. I do sometimes, however, think it would be nice to be able to settle for something that wasn’t bombs bursting in air.
It isn’t who I am though. Now, it appears that I am going on another trajectory at full speed. Lets see where it takes me.
I may be Laurie’s next topic–What’s everyone’s advice for helping BZTAT fill the gaps in her reperatoire so that she can become a successful artist/writer/expounder-on-all-things and be as wealthy as she is amazing?
@BZ Don’t you feel like you would go crazy if you tried to be amazing all of the time? I would lose it. Maybe that’s why I work from home and have five cats.
@Laurie–I don’t try. It just happens.
I AM crazy. Here you thought I was an expert.
I do everything I do with great passion (except cleaning the litter box). I want to be the best I can possibly be and then some.
Maybe I am mixing up the words “amazing” and “passion”.
Both tend to drive me crazy, but that is the way I am.
I respect people who are providing the information to show us how to be better in our profession. But, frankly, I’m just tired. My energy stores are nearing empty. This recession has gone on too long, and I’ve had to lay off too many people and have taken too many hits to my paycheck. I simply can’t give my job any “next level” or any “amazing factor” any more. It’s silly to think that not being amazing at the office means you only want to do a mediocre job. I want to do a great job, but I’m saving amazing for my life away from work. It’s a gross generalization that it’s HR’s fault if upper management doesn’t grasp HR’s value. When does it become management’s responsibility to open their ears/eyes/minds? Why is it always on HR to prove our worth? I don’t see this onus placed on any other role in my company.
My sense from talking to other HR peers in my industry is that we’re losing ground thanks to this recession. I work in an industry where profits are based on billable work, and HR is directly in the cross hairs since we are overhead. ROI and metrics means nothing when businesses are trying to make it month to month. Every employee’s worth now is based on whether or not their work can be directly billed to a client. This is a whole new playing field for many of us whose company’s previously understood the value in amazing HR. The way to be amazing now is to be willing to do anything else in the organization that can be billed out and then somehow get the strategic work done after you’ve earned your keep.
Me no likey this new world order.
I had a conversation with a coworker today about being bored with what we were doing in our current role. In passing she mentioned it to her spouse who replied with “so more can you do other than what April does, is there more?”. She’s the trainer and I’m hr. Her spouse didnt see HR as doing more than pushing paper around, playing bartender, or doing phone screenings. Her spouse is a new director in my office and my goal is to change that mentality; at least until I get bored. Is that me doing amazing things or just keeping myself entertained to deal with the mediocrity of the day?
Lots going on in this string.
It seems that some are seeing amazing as self-promotion. I think HR professionals can and should be amazing, supporting and driving the business whenever they can. Nothing selfish about making the business better. I think that’s what we are supposed to do.
Others in the string are seeing amazing as being in charge or the leader. I have some amazing partners who are independent contributors, and they rock. You can be amazing without being selfish.
Is it all right to have folks who just want to show up, do their work, and go home? Sure. But if you owned the business, and your name was on the front door, and your (and your kids’) livelihood depended on how inventive, creative, solution-focused your team was, would you really want someone like that working for you? Or would you upgrade if you had the chance?
That being said, don’t confuse that with being a solid performer. I’ll take solid and engaged. I just don’t want the folks who have no interest in improving the business.
I’m a little mixed up here. When you say someone might be trying to do “A” work (work = player) but it only amounts to “B” or “C” do you mean like in school where you study super hard, do extra credit and everything but you still don’t catch on and just get the B or C? Or, do you mean what the thread of comments has been concerned with…the superstar thing. Where you think you’re doing “A” work just because of “what” you do and not “how” you do it? I’m only asking because I am somewhat new to HR (almost 2 years which is newish to me) and I have never been in HR at all before. I am the lower level HR player but I don’t mind that. I prefer to be the worker bee and do all the behind the scenes stuff. I try to do the best I can but I feel that I’m more of a “B” then an “A” but not for lack of trying. Having worked myself up (this is my third position at this company in 4 years) I feel I have a good knowledge of how other departments function, which does help me in this job. But I too, always doubt my own work, feel like I am doing things wrong and just can’t seem to get an “A” no matter how hard I try. That’s why I like reading this blog. I do learn something from you Laurie, and from everyone’s comments. Since I always feel like a misfit toy, you have all helped me to feel like I don’t have to fit the typical HR mold. I will read the book!
Again, an amazing conversation on your site which is why I love PRHR readers who care about what they do – whatever that is (BZTAT)!
I saw Chris’ e-book, thought it was a great idea so I forwarded to my HR team in hopes to encourage and inspire. While I glanced at the book, I have not read it all the way through and here’s why: while I encourage others to do great things, I’m not sure that I have the energy for it anymore – at least in a coporate environment. Now is that mediocrity? Perhaps, but it is also my reality but doesn’t mean I still can’t or wont be a champion for the cause.
I’ve worked in HR forever but have never had the desire to run the show. I am currently an HR Manager and this is where I want to be. On the ground, with the front line associates who do the hard work everyday. I can’t stand dealing with executives who have lost sight of the work being done and what its like to do the work that makes the company what it is (can’t wait for Undercover Boss to air!).
Therefore, I agree with you Laurie that this is a conversation that is good to have and don’t believe there is a right or wrong to it. We all have our place in the universe – mine is behide the scenes, as subversive as possible, like a cat under the covers (see I can fit into your demographic on various levels!).
Ok, say I’m an amazing super HR and I have been continually performing excellent. So what after so many years of excellence? What is the urge left to do better. Or can there be a super super after the initial super? It’s just like you’ve been scoring 99 % and say even if you get 100 %, what after that?
I personally believe it’s nothing wrong being just a mediocre. Infact a mediocre too may have reached heights and may have individual success stories, for him to be proud about. It’s about being natural and loving the way one does their job. Amazing things happen when one feels being in one’s skin!
There is no need to apologize for not aspiring to be above average, but truly Laurie, I don’t believe anyone who has paid the least bit of attention to you would believe you were being anything less than rhetorical, completely on purpose. The truly amazing thing is that anyone can be whoever they want to be and perform at whatever level their skill and will dictate and that includes societal permission to be apathetic, which is fact the norm. I don’t believe Do Amazing Things is anything other than a collection of ideas for those with the desire to break out of the mold of “average” and “because that’s the way it’s always been done” might be inspired by. Of course it’s not for everyone, that’s not everyone’s aspiration and it’s not a bible or mandate. So be the change you wish to see, or not, and be a part of the solution not the problem…. blah blah blah…