For the background of this list – see my original post from 2-10-12.

The #2 Rap Lyric that Shaped my Leadership Style comes from rapper Ice Cube, from his 1993 Predator album, and the song “It Was a Good Day“. The song was ranked #7 all time by VH1 for hip hop songs and had a great video! The Lyric:

“Today I didn’t even have to use my A.K.
I got to say it was a good day.”

In HR we carry a gun with us all the time – don’t kid yourself – your gun is your ability to influence hiring managers and supervisors to terminate an individual in your organization based on the policies and practices that most HR Pros know inside and out.  Leadership in your organization look to HR Pros to help them “do the right thing” for the organization when it comes to terminations and/or discipline.  That is a big, giant gun you are carry around – and it’s heavy!

I’ve had to terminate hundreds of employees in my HR career – and I’ve never once felt good about it.  Some certainly deserved it – without question – but I’ve never once hired someone to fire them.  I hired them to be a great employee – so to have to fire them is a sad event.  It means I/we/us failed – maybe part of that equation was a larger piece of the problem – but don’t kid yourself – 99% of the time it’s a team failure. I really spend a great deal of time self-reflecting when I have to terminate an employee and to determine where I failed them – how could I have saved them – where did it all go wrong.  This is very important – because we only get better if we can keep and grow our teams.

Each and everyday, in my HR career, that I have not had to use my “AK” – I can definitely say was a good day!