30,000 Days

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I had something happen to me recently that was really just one more reminder that life can change in an instant.  It seems like life has a way of trying to shake us awake and bring your focus back to what’s really important, when we start to focus on things that really aren’t that important.

Here’s the deal.  If we are lucky we each have about 30,000 days to live.  (I’ll wait, go ahead and do the math…) Welcome back. 30,000 days seems like a lot of days.  The thing is that 30,000 number is really best case scenario.  Many will not make it to 30,000, and those that do, I can’t tell you those 30,000+ days will be your best days.

So, what are you doing with your 30,000 days?

I won’t say I’ve wasted 16,000 already, because I’ve done some pretty remarkable things.  I’ve got a great wife. Three great kids.  A solid career.  It’s taken all of those 16,000 days to get to this point.

Here’s what I’ve learned to this point in my 30,000 days:

– I’ve stopped valuing how valuable each day is.  I mean, I value all that I have and my life, but it gets lost on the daily basis of life.  I get big picture, small picture over takes it constantly.

– I don’t enjoy the things I enjoy, enough.  I have enjoyment, but if I only have 30,000 days, I should be enjoying those things more.

– I don’t spend enough time with those I love.  In the end I won’t cry over not being able to work another minute.  I will cry over not having another second with those I love.

My guess is many of us will have the three things above in common.  Many of us are in this race of life.  Until we realize we are just racing to the end. At which point, you’ll go, oh wait a freaking minute, I don’t want to win this race!  Go ahead, I’ll catch up later!

This doesn’t mean I want to sell off all my worldly possession and walk the earth like Caine from Kung Fu (look it up Millenials).  I don’t.  I like my stuff!  It helps me enjoy my life.  I like my work.  I like to play more than work (my guess is that’s 99.9% of the world!).  This isn’t about balance.  30,000 days doesn’t care about your stupid balance.  It’s a clock, and it’s ticking.

In my 30,000 days I want to leave the world a better place than when I arrived.  To each of us that means something different.  One person might want to care for sick kids. One might want to change our environment. One might want to help homeless. I’ve decided I want to leave the world 3 young men who will create a legacy of their own.  Three men who will take my vision one step further and help to leave the world a little better as well.  If I spend my 30,000 days being the best Dad possible, I think I’ll feel content that I spend my 30,000 days pretty well.

What are you going to do with what’s left of your 30,000 days?

Can I Be Completely Honest?

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“Can I be completely honest with you?” is a phrase usually followed by some sh*t you don’t want to hear.  We talk about this concept a bunch in HR.  We need to tell our employees the truth about their performance.  We work to coach managers of people on how to deliver this message appropriately.  We develop complete training sessions and bring in ‘professional’ communicators to help us out on the exact phraseology we want to use.  All so we can be ‘honest’ with our employees.

Can I be completely honest with you?

No one wants you to be honest with them.

They want you to tell them this:

1. We like having you work here.

2. You’re doing a good job.

3.  You are better than most of the other employees we have.

4. We see great things coming from your development, and you’re on target for promotion.

5. Here is your annual increase.

Now, that might actually be ‘honest’ feedback for about 5% of your employees.  That means you will be saying a different version of honest to the other 95% that won’t like you being completely honest.

That is why talent management is really hard.  No piece of software will help you with this one fact.  Most people don’t like honest.  The cool part of this is that most managers don’t like to be honest. It’s uncomfortable. It causes conflict.  Most people aren’t comfortable telling someone else that they have some issues that need to be addressed, and most people don’t take that feedback appropriately.  You tell an employee they have ‘room for improvement’ and they instantly believe you told them they suck and they’re about to be fired.

So, as managers, we aren’t completely honest.  We tend to work around the truth.  The truth is we all have things we need to get better at, and it sucks to hear it out loud.  If someone tells you they welcome this feedback, they’re lying to you and themselves.  Those are usually the people who lose it the most when they are told the truth.  People who tell you they want honest feedback will believe you’re going to tell them ‘honestly’ they’re a rock star.  When you say something less than ‘rock star’ they implode.

So, what’s the honest solution to this?

Say nothing.  Set really good metrics. Metrics that show if a person is performing or not.  Make sure everyone understands those metrics.  Then, when the employee wants feedback, set down the metrics in front of them, and shut up.  Don’t be the first to talk.  The employee will give you some honest feedback if you wait.  Which will open the door to agree or disagree? Otherwise, you’re just working on subjective.  Subjective and honest don’t go well together.

But, you knew that. I really like having you stop by and read this.  You do a great job at your job. You’re certainly better than all those other readers who stop by and read this.  I’m sure you’re on your way up!

 

Homing From Work

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This might be the phrase for 2014.  Every year we get stupid business phrases that become part of our lexicon:

  • “Use it or lose it!”
  • “Necessary Evil”
  • “A seat at the table”
  • “Thinking outside the box”
  • “Silo Mentality”
  • “At the end of the day…”

For 2014 I’m calling it – “Homing from Work!”

Fast Company released an infographic recently that had some interesting facts about how, especially in the U.S. (I have to say stuff like that now, because I have this international audience, which in itself is funny since the most international I’ve ever gotten is Canada and Mexico! Which I don’t really even consider international, they’re more like Northern and Southern suburbs of the U.S.) , workers are working more hours, and feeling like they have a healthy work/life balance.  Since 2011, there has been a 30% increase in the number of people working more than 9 hours per day, and 80% of white collar workers feel they have a solid work/life balance.

That doesn’t sound right, does it?!

Well, there’s a bit more!  93%! Yes, 93% of workers take care of personal business and family needs during their work day, while at work.  63% increase in surfing and shopping online – more women than men! Surprise, surprise. If you make over $100,000 you’re more likely to exercise during your work day. Workers under 30 are 76% more likely than workers over 50 to visit social networking sites while at work.

Now, that sounds about right!

“Homing from work” is nothing more than what it’s always been, but now we have a term for it!  Basically, you have some personal stuff that needs to get done, but you can’t do it after work or the weekend, so you do it at work.  It’s been going on since the 9 to 5 was invented!  The one thing you need to be aware of, though, is it works both ways.  If you want to “Home from Work” that’s cool, but don’t give me grief when you need to take a call from home or catch up on something during the weekend.  It’s not either/or, it’s both.  You can’t do one without an expectation of other.

I know you’re checking into Facebook at work. I know you’re booking your airline tickets for your vacation at work. I’m fine with that, but don’t act like I owe you something if you need to work an extra hour one night, or put in some hours from home.  Hoomie don’t play that.  Go ahead and home from work, just know that it comes with an expectation of working from home.

Breaking Down The 6 Seconds Of Your Resume

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The Ladders released some research in the past couple of weeks that focused on how a recruiter reads your resume.  It was really good stuff for job seekers to pay attention to, but it was mostly sent to HR and Recruiter types who shrugged their shoulders and thought ‘Yeah, so.” Basically, what the study showed was that a recruiter really only spends about 6 seconds initially viewing your resume (that first screen)!  For years the industry has used ten seconds as a staple, regardless, we knew it was a very short time.

The study also shows where a recruiter’s eyes focus while looking at your resume for six seconds.  This is even more brilliant! I’ve first saw this technology used with the design of Facebook’s UI.  They were able to see how people stared at their Facebook page to determine the best place for their ads.  And you thought they just put them on the side to get them out of the way!  It’s very scientific, and researchers use technology that will show a heat-map like image that indicates where you gaze the longest. On a Facebook page, on a resume, etc. It can used in a number of fashions to show where an individual focuses their attention.

So, in the six seconds a recruiter is looking at your resume, where do they look?  Here are the main areas by emphasis:

1. First job listed – Current Position.  That one you list, hopefully, right under your opening “Objective” header.  A recruiter will immediately scan to that section as they quickly scan by your objective, and spend a little more time looking at the Job Title, Dates and opening sentence (so make it a good one!).  They spend very little time on all those paragraphs and bullet points you put below that.

2. Next job listed – Previous Position. Okay, she is working here, and she use to work here.  It’s that quick.  They don’t care that you ‘totally re-processed’ the supply cabinet, and led the company in quarterly metrics, blah, blah, blah contests, are you still reading this, no one reads this far into your resume!

2. Education.  From your first job listed (let’s be clear, it’s not your actual first job ever worked, but the first job you have listed on your resume) the recruiter will quickly move to Education.  Why?  Basically, they’ve determined you’re working, or have worked, in the right kind of job for what they are looking for, so now they want to know what kind of education you have.

That’s it. Your six seconds is over.

I just saved you $1000 on getting your resume professionally done. It’s not needed, unless you have my grammar skills, than you might want to invest. The reality of today’s recruiter, and even hiring managers, is that your resume will won’t get read until you get to the next level.  This is actually an advantage to you if you know how to design your resume, using the data from the study!

All you really need is a USA Today style resume.  Do you know why the USA Today is such a popular national newspaper?  Because almost all of us are really stupid and lazy.  We like big pictures, colors and bullet pointed lists.  That is all the USA Today delivers in terms of news.  No details, just the headlines and the sexy stuff.  That is what your resume should be.  At least on that initial first page.

5 Traits of Lousy HR Leaders

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The things you can always count on in life are: death, taxes and a lousy HR leader in your organization.  I think I saw that on a t-shirt at SHRM National one year!  The reality is, HR leaders are selected a little different than most leaders in our organization.  Most leadership is selected this way (right or wrong):

1. Perform really, really well

2. Get promoted into a position of leadership, whether you can lead or not.

I call this ‘Best Performance Leadership Selection’.  This is the selection process for leadership by roughly 97% of organizations worldwide!  You’re great at your job, you will be great as a leader.  Pretty sound selection process, right!?

HR leaders are selected almost the same, but with a slightly small difference:

1. Have really long tenure in the HR department at your organization.

2. Get promoted into a HR leadership position.

Sound familiar?  I call this ‘I’ve Been Here The Longest Leadership Selection’.  This is the selection process for HR leadership in roughly 97% of organizations worldwide! You might be great at your job, but we don’t really care, you’ve been here longer than anyone else in HR so now you’re the leader!

Sometimes reading what we do, in black and white, is depressing…

The problem with this type of HR leadership selection (besides the painfully obvious things) is we usually end up with lousy HR leaders.  Here are the traits of really lousy HR Leaders, just so you know if you have one or not:

– Rely on Faulty Metrics to make Major HR Decisions, and fail to track results. Well, we’ve been using time to fill and turnover for the past 20 years here, why would we stop!  Also, let’s keep using these subjective measures to determine if we are successful, because, well, hey, they’re subjective and at the end of the day I want to show our executives we are successful, whether we are or not.

– Not Championing Weighted Risk.  Lousy HR leaders love to cover their own ass more than any other single thing they do.  In HR we advise of risk, and give opinion on how to move forward.  Lousy HR leaders will not champion risk at any level, for fear it might come back on them.  Organizations take risk every single day. It’s not HR’s job to eliminate risk, it’s our job to champion appropriate risk and be all in with our business partners.

– Not Having the Tough Conversation.  Most leadership fails at this, but HR can’t.  We have to be the coaches for all other leadership in our organization.  If anyone knows how to have a tough conversation, it has to be HR.  Yet, most fail at this miserably.  Lousy HR Leaders are superficial and shallow in their opinions and directions, and don’t seek clarification on things in the organization that people are leaving to assumption.

– Not Aligning their Vision with the Organization’s Vision.  This is a definite sign of lousy leadership.  If your group, department, function leader can’t create a vision at their level that aligns with the organization, they have no direction.  Another sign of lousy leadership is when your leader just uses the organization vision and can’t break it down to a functional level.  This is just flat out lazy.

– Not being able to Lead Employees Equally Different.  Yes, all employees are created equal.  That doesn’t mean that all employees are treated equal. There is a fine line between treating everyone the same, and making people feel equal.  I want all my employees to feel like no one is better than another, but we also have to have a fundamental organizational understanding that at certain points and times some employees must be treated differently, for the good of the organization.  Lousy HR leaders are uncomfortable with this concept because it’s easy to just fall back on ‘we treat everyone the same.’

The Secret to Great HR

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(I’m on vacation, that’s not a secret, but this post is because it ran in Jan. 2010 almost no one read it!)

I was given a gift this past holiday season – my brother bought me Bill Simmons’ latest book, The Book of Basketball– which is quite possibly the greatest book ever written, all 700 pages of it. It’s not just about the NBA (although it’s pretty damn comprehensive on that subject), it also has many leadership and life lessons as well.  One of my favorite parts has to do with Piston great and Hall of Fame guard, Isiah Thomas*, explaining to Bill the “Secret” of basketball – to the point of what it takes for a team to win a world championship in the NBA.  Boiled down into a sentence or two, the secret to winning, according to Isiah, has to do less with great individual players and more about a group of really good players, foregoing personal statistics, for the good of the whole.  Sounds simple enough – we all get that – but then why do so many great players miss this easily understood concept?**

Don’t worry about yourself (and your own success), worry about your team’s success, that is, if you truly want to be successful.

I started to think about this concept in all other areas of my life.***  HR isn’t difficult, usually, for the most part, it’s a fairly straight forward concept – get great people, keep great people happy, customers benefit, profits come, stakeholders happy, repeat.****  But, there has to be a secret, because probably 80% or so, of HR Pros out there, don’t get it and aren’t helping make their organizations better through great HR.

So, like Isiah, I’m going to share The Secret To Great HR.  I know what you’re thinking, why would I do this – I could easily go all Malcolm Gladwell on you and write a book, and be a thousandaire, or something. But I’m not, I’m giving it away free because I like karma better than money*****  and I see it as my gift back to all the HR Pros out there who could use the help right about now.

The Secret To Great HR –

The secret is extraordinarily simple, it’s all about a few close relationships.  Depending on what type of organization you come from, it has to do with the relationship you have with those who are running operations. First, every organization has some type of operation – meaning every organization produces something – product, service, etc. Even in church, the pastor runs operations – sharing the gospel with people, for example.

So, in your organization, to have great HR – the leadership in HR, must have a great relationship with the leadership in Operations.  I’m talking husband/wife great relationship******* your best friend in the world type relationship, someone you could go on vacation for a week, and share a hotel room type relationship. The blocking and tackling of HR isn’t difficult – but becomes incredibly difficult without support from your operation’s partner.  People miss this – and it’s very simple.  Instead, in HR, we work to make new processes, new programs, better orientation, more specific recruiting plans, user-friendly HRIS, etc.  Then, we get completely frustrated when we can’t get rank and file to follow some very simple steps to make it all run extremely smooth.

Why?  Because mostly we do this, without operations really buying into, or even wanting, our latest and greatest new thingy we just put together – For them, by the way!  If you have a strong relationship with Ops, they will tell you what they need, help you design it, roll it out for you, and make their own processes to ensure it’s followed.  Wow! Doesn’t that sound nice? All because of a relationship.*********

PS: *****If you don’t get the use of “*” references, read The Book of Basketball******

PPS: It’s my inner dialogue thoughts

*I liked Isiah, being the huge Piston fan that I am – but really more of a Joe Dumars fan – when I was 16 my Dad got tickets to see the Pistons vs. Lakers (my other favorite team – being that Magic is a Sparty) and after the game I got my picture taken with then rookie, Joe Dumars and 7′ 5″ Chuck Nevitt – I can still remember the conversation: Me “Joe great game”; Joe (looking completely exhausted and pissed he had to take pictures after a Sunday game on national TV with the Lakers, with some fans, who only got the chance because Tropicana or some other sponsor told him he had to do it) “Thanks” – Smile – click – interaction over.  I’ll be a fan of Joe the rest of my life!

**I say simple enough, but let’s face it most people are idiots and don’t get this, and really only worry about themselves.

***So, besides work, that means youth sports and how to keep my wife happy

****I always find it amazing how you can use a shampoo-rinse-repeat analogy in almost any conversation.

*****Not really, I like money a whole lot, but I’m really hoping this blog thing turns into a TV deal – so I got to give a little away for free – wet the appetite so to speak.

******I know some might be thinking husband/wife aren’t a great relationship analogy – but that’s because you didn’t find your soul mate – sucks to be you – sorry.

********It helps to go out drinking with them as well – after a couple of drinks, somehow what they really want from HR comes out!

Candidates with Hickeys

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(I’m on vacation – I originally posted this in Feb. 2010 over at Fistful of Talent. Also going on 16,123 days of never having a Hickey!)

Kris Dunn, our the HR Capitalist, had a blog post “How To Destroy a Lifetime of Trust as an HR Pro in a Single Day…” where he explained how a direct report broke the cardinal rule in HR and shared confidential information, or more specifically tried to use confidential information for personal gain. It wasn’t something illegal, it had nothing to do with their individual functional performance as a Director of HR, but what this person did was destroy the trust they had with their leader (although I could argue that if a HR Pro can’t keep confidential information confidential – you probably do have a performance issue). Good post – go over and read it, if you haven’t.

The post got me thinking though about how a person recovers from this type of transgression. (Also take a look at this WSJ article “How a Black Mark Can Derail a Job Search“.  As a leader, Kris was pained for sure, because this person had “High-Potential” and was an “A” player.  But when certain things happen, professionally, you have to cut ties and move on.  So now, this Hi-Po has a huge Hickey.  Interestingly though, this Hickey can’t be seen when you look at their resume or interview them in person, but it’s a Hickey they can’t get rid of.  So, barring a life-turtleneck how does one cover this puppy up?

It’s interesting because I think that probably the best of us have a hickey or two that we would rather not have our current or future employer know about.  Sometimes they’re big-giant-in-the-back-of-a-Chevy-17-year-old-I-will-love-you-forever hickeys and sometimes they’re just oops-I-lingered-a-little-too-long type of hickeys. Either way, I would rather not expose my hickeys and have to worry about how this will impact the rest of my professional life. And here’s where most people drive themselves crazy.

As HR Pros I think it’s important for us to be able to help our organizations determine the relative value of individuals.  This person was a rock star at ABC company – did something wrong, couldn’t maintain that position any longer with ABC because of said incident, and lost their job – now we have a chance to pick up a Rock Star (and probably for a discount).  The question you have to ask is not could we live with this person if they did the same thing here?  Because that really isn’t the question – you already have that answer – No.  The question is: do we feel this person learned from said wrong doing and is there any risk of them doing it again?  You might come to the conclusion – yes, they’ve learned, and yes, there is potential they might do it again (let’s face it, if they did it once, they’ve shown they can do it, so there’s always a risk) – but it’s a risk we are willing to take.

So how does someone come back from a transgression at work? The answer is that they have some help.  Eventually, someone is going to ask the question, “why aren’t you with ABC Company anymore?”  They’ll give you the canned answer they’ve been developing since the moment they lost their job. If you’re a good interviewer, you won’t buy the first answer:  “I mean really?!  So, you decided it was better off not to have a job. Is what you’re telling me?!”,  and you will dig to see the hickey.  Hickeys are funny in that you really can’t take your eyes off of them, but for those who can get by the hickeys, you might just find a great talent who is grateful for the second chance.

But, you also might find someone who just likes being in the back of that Chevy and getting Hickeys. You’re the HR Pro, though, and that’s really why your company pays your salary, to mitigate risk versus the quality of talent your organization needs to succeed.  So, you have to ask yourself, can you live with a Hickey or not?

Attention Employees: Get Healthy, Or You’re Fired.

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(I’m on vacation, I originally posted this on Fistful of Talent in August of 2009 -way before Obamacare, but still rings true!)

I love companies that have had enough and aren’t going to take it anymore (Network clip). I also love listening to the workers, of said company, complain about how their company is “being intrusive” because they are being “forced” to take care of themselves.  The Wall Street Journal has an article entitled When All Else Fails: Forcing Workers Into Healthy Habits that uncovers the latest employer, AmeriGas Propane Inc., which gave its employees an ultimatum: get their medical checkups or lose their health insurance.  Isn’t that wonderful!?  Here is an employer who loves its people so much, they want to make sure they are going to be healthy and actually survive to collect their paycheck. Talk about employee engagement.

So, what is wrong with this?  Well, let’s just hear from one skeptical AmeriGas employee:

“Dennis Price Sr., a 48-year-old propane-truck driver in the company’s Warrenton, Va., office, says he was “a little shocked” by the idea at first. “I thought it was an invasion of our privacy,” he says. Mr. Price had never gotten his cholesterol checked, and generally avoided doctors.”

Sounds like he’s taking his god-given-all-American right to be unhealthy – nothing wrong yet. What say the unions?

“Labor officials say they object to the idea of mandated health tests. “This is a personal health matter,” says Gerry Shea, assistant to the president of the AFL-CIO. “To bring it into the workplace and tie it to benefits is inappropriate. It’s like Big Brother.”

Sounds like more god-given, all-American wisdom – boy I can smell the apple pie cookin’! What about management?

“Despite these efforts, Mr. Katz (VP of HR) and benefits director Carol Guinan found themselves in April 2007 chewing over some unpalatable numbers. Besides annual health-expense increases of 10% or more, the company, which self-insures its health plan, had paid more than two dozen insurance claims in the previous year for amounts greater than $100,000. Its workers had high rates of diabetes and heart disease.

 

The program, dubbed Operation Save-A-Life, was unveiled in August 2007 and took effect the following January. Each worker received a DVD at home to explain the effort and discuss cost and health statistics. One fact: AmeriGas employees younger than 60 were dying of natural causes at nearly three times the expected rate for that age group based on actuarial data.

 

AmeriGas estimates that more than 90% of its workers have gotten the required exams. Use of cholesterol drugs rose 13.6% in 2008 from a year earlier. For diabetes drugs, the increase was 7.7%, and for asthma medications and blood-pressure medicines, it was 7.4% and 2.5%, respectively.”

Damn management – they always have more to say and have all those fancy numbers!

The article, also, points out two specific examples of the screens catching one employee’s breast cancer, self-admittedly, earlier then she ever would have caught it herself. Also, the screens caught another employee who had liver disease and was able to reverse the effects by early detection.

I know there is a gray area here where companies can go overboard, but in today’s competitive world for talent, you can’t tell me that most companies aren’t trying to do the right thing.  Is making your employees go get a health screen a bad thing?  Probably not. Is firing them because they have high cholesterol after the screen a bad thing? Depends on their performance…  Just kidding… the fact of the matter is we have a broken healthcare system and most employers have to do something to reduce costs. So they can either interview under the precursor “does this person look young and healthy”, or we can allow them some slack to help make their own workforce a bit more healthy.

7 Things I Wouldn’t Do To Get A Job

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(I’m on vacation, I originally posted this in 2009 – except for #7, that’s new, not the feeling but to this post!)

A Wall Street Journal article, by Joann S. Lublin, raised the question: “What won’t you do for a Job?”  Which got me thinking about what are those things I wouldn’t do for a job.  First, I had to set some parameters around the question:

1. Not just any job (I can get any job) but a really good job.  You know the one: your career Camelot – great pay, benefits, work, boss, co-workers – plus you’re out by 4pm everyday!  Or whatever it is that is your perfect combination of factors for the perfect job.

2. Also, I can’t go to prison for what I would do – I’m short and soft – meaning, I’m fairly certain I would end up someone’s wife in prison.

With the parameters set, the question really set me free to think about what I wouldn’t do for the “perfect” career opportunity.  So, I’ll give you the short list:

 1. I won’t kill anyone in my immediate family (wife and 3 sons), everyone else is open season. (probably goes back to the prison thing – I’m soft, plus my grandma would hate it if I got sent to prison and I really love her.).

2.  I won’t eat bugs or cauliflower (yes, I consider them the same food group).

3.  I won’t work for free.  Everyone has a price and mine is above “Free”!  Plus, I work for free enough in my current job as Headhunter!

4. I  won’t stay past 5pm (or any other arbitrary time), just because my boss stays past 5pm because he doesn’t have a life and thinks everyone should stay past 5, or they’re not dedicated or hard working.

5.  I won’t allow my opinions to be squelched by the man! (oh wait, yes I will, but it will cost them!)

6.  I won’t allow myself to be chased around my desk and sexually harassed by my attractive, much  younger, opposite sex, boss (ok, I might, but only if my benefits pay for divorce and I get a big raise!).

7. I won’t become a University of Michigan fan.  I actually told my sons if they got a scholarship to go to UofM I would root for ‘them’, not the school, but them personally.

So, what won’t you do for the ‘perfect’ job?   Hit me in the comments and let me know…

The Great Job Lottery!

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(This originally ran in 2011 on The Project. Only 14 people read my stuff back then, so you probably missed it!)

You know what’s funny (well, I think it’s funny anyway), I refuse to play the Lotto. Any of the games: PowerBall, MegaMillions, etc. Until they get above $100 Million!  Once they get above $100 Million, I’m all in.  Here’s the funny part, I get it, I get how stupid the whole thing sounds.  I know I’m more likely to get hit by lightening, while running with siccors, next to Kevin Bacon, I get the odds.  I get that I’m actually making my chances of winning even less, by only playing when the numbers are higher.  To me, That’s funny!  Why in the world do I still do it, when I understand the odds I’m facing?

First, the Lotto is really the last great American Dream.  It use to be get a great job, marry, buy house, etc.  Not anymore.  All we have left is the Lotto baby.  So, if I’m really going to live the American Dream, I don’t want to “just” win $5, 10 or even 50 Million! I mean, can you imagine actually winning the Lotto and only winning $1 Million!  You can’t retire and quit your job on $1 Million after taxes, you would still have to work.  But not only that, you would probably have to work even harder because you would be all ghetto rich and go buy a house and other stuff you can’t afford.  So, if I’m winning, I’m winning the Big One or nothing.  It’s my dream, go get your own.

So, what does the Lottery have to do with HR?  It’s the concept that a very small number are going to win, and most are going to be living the “real” American Dream of living check to check, average work environment, average leadership, just plain average.  But! for a slight few, they win the job lottery.  Even some in HR will win the job lottery.  I use to think, there was no such thing as the job lottery.  The people working for those “Great” companies, getting those “crazy” benefits, and “outstanding” quality of life, well they were just the tops in their field and the recruiting departments of those teams searched the entire universe to find the best.  Right!? I mean don’t tell me it could be right place, right time! I stumbled into a 7/11 looking for a roller hot dog and Slurpee and the clerk talked me into spending $1 more dollar on a ticket and now I’m the richest guy in my trailer park…it couldn’t be that…could it?!?

I believe in every great company, they are great people employed, doing great things to keep their companies on top.  I also believe, in the worst companies, you will find great people, doing great things, just trying to keep their companies afloat.  In fact, those great ones, at the worst companies, might be even a little better than their counterparts at the best companies.  I also believe that every company, even the great ones, have “pretenders”, people who live off the reputation of the company they work for, and try and pin their company’s reputation on their chest as their own.  I know this because I run into many of the “pretenders” professionally, and within minutes of having a real conversation with them, it’s painfully obvious, they are not their companies.  That’s how the Lottery works.  It doesn’t discriminate, it doesn’t show favorites, it doesn’t force you play, it just does.

Don’t believe me? You are probably at a great company, and I must be wrong!  Check out your demographics.  I’ll bet 75%+ of your workforce comes from within 50 miles of your location.  So, what you’re telling me, is you live in some “freak” community where 75%+ of the people just happen to be the top in their field!  No you don’t, you just happen to have one very common trait with many of your co-workers, you all were in the right place, at the right time.  You all won the job lottery!  Don’t be defensive, there isn’t any need.  I’m not going to be defensive when I win the $100M and someone says, “you’re only rich and powerful and where polka-dot shoes because you won the lottery!” For which I’ll say, “Yes, yes I did. No get back to work, ironing my underwear.”

Embrace you good fortune my HR brethren, I’ll even celebrate your good fortune with you, but please don’t act like your G*d’s gift to HR because you were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.