Best of the HR Happy Hour - Number 2 - 'Live from New York (TheLadders Show)'

This week as we are counting down to the 100th Episode of the HR Happy Hour show, (Thursday, May 19th at 8:00pm ET), I thought it would be a good idea to look back through the archive of the first 99 shows to pick out my personal favorite Top 5 shows from the first two years of the HR Happy Hour.

Today's pick, coming in at the Number 2 spot on the countdown is Episode 84: 'Live from New York, (TheLadders Show)' featuring a veritable 'who's-who' of your favorite writers, speakers, and big thinkers in the fields of Human Resources and Recruiting. You can listen to the show on the show page here, or using the widget player below:

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The original broadcast date was January 27, 2001.

Just some of the names you will hear on this show, (and I know if you listen it will be the first time, this show, despite its all-star cast, was not nearly as popular as most of the other shows), include Gerry Crispin, Kevin Wheeler, John Sumser, Kris Dunn, Jessica Lee, Jim Stroud, Josh LeTourneau, Kelly Dingee, Jason Boltax, Mark Stelzner and more. This show had it all, great guests, a superb setting for broadcast, controversial and heated discussions - it was one of the very best shows we did that hardly anyone heard.

The Episode was was broadcast live from the New York offices of TheLadders, the sometimes controversial, always interesting '$100k and up' job board that no matter what position you take, usually stirs up some emotions in the HR and Recruiting space.

The folks at TheLadders were invited to participate in the show that night, but declined, and were gracious enough to allow free and unvarnished discussions to flow freely on their home turf.

So give 'Live from New York, (TheLadders Show), a listen, and let me know what you think. It is Number 2 on Steve's countdown of the best HR Happy Hour Shows.

Best of the HR Happy Hour - Number 3 - 'SHRM '09 Special'

This week as we are counting down to the 100th Episode of the HR Happy Hour show, (Thursday, May 19th at 8:00pm ET), I thought it would be a good idea to look back through the archive of the first 99 shows to pick out my personal favorite Top 5 shows from the first two years of the HR Happy Hour.

Today's pick, coming in at the Number 3 spot on the countdown is Episode 4: 'SHRM '09 Special' featuring the panelists at SHRM National's first ever panel on HR and Social Media/Blogging, including Kris Dunn, Laurie Ruettimann, Lance Haun, and Mark Stelzner, (original broadcast date July 3, 2009).

You can listen to the replay of 'SHRM '09 Special' on the episode page here, or by using the widget player below:

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This was a notable show for a couple of reasons, not the least of which was that the SHRM '09 Social Media panel, (put together and moderated by China Gorman), was kind of a watershed moment for the inclusion of social media topics, bloggers, and for a kind of recognition of the growing influence and importance of the engaged online community by the mainstream.

This also was a kind of telling moment for me, as I had never met any of the guests on the show prior to this Episode, and for them to appear on what was at that time really a new endeavor was really cool and noteworthy.

Reach back deep into the HR Happy Hour archives with Episode 4 - SHRM '09 Special and let me know what you think!

Best of HR Happy Hour - Number 4: 'The Why of Work'

This week as we are counting down to the 100th Episode of the HR Happy Hour show, (Thursday, May 19th at 8:00pm ET), I thought it would be a good idea to look back through the archive of the first 99 shows to pick out my personal favorite Top 5 shows from the first two years of the HR Happy Hour.

Today's pick, coming in at the Number 4 spot on the countdown is Episode 49: 'The Why of Work' featuring author, professor, and HR legend Dave Ulrich, (original broadcast date June 10, 2010).

You can listen to the replay of 'The Why of Work' on the episode page here, or by using the widget player below:

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This was a noteworthy show for a few reasons - one, Dave was simply a phenomenal guest who had tremendous insight and passion for the topic, essentially an examination on how to make work more meaningful; two, Dave was by far the biggest 'name' guest we had ever booked on the show;  and three; having a guest like Dave with his reputation and name recognition has definitely helped us land other 'name brand' guests as the show has carried on.

In case you missed Episode 49, 'The Why of Work' with Dave Ulrich, I hope you can find some time this week to give it a listen. It is Number 4 on Steve's Top 5 HR Happy Hour Show countdown.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Number 3 tomorrow!

Best of HR Happy Hour - Number 5: 'HR Horror Stories'

This week as we are counting down to the 100th Episode of the HR Happy Hour show, (Thursday, May 19th at 8:00pm ET),  I thought it would be a good idea to look back through the archive of the first 99 shows to pick out my personal favorite Top 5 shows from the first two years of the HR Happy Hour. One, because it is fun to look back on some of the early shows, and two, for some of the show's newer fans, it would be a chance to perhaps introduce them to some of the older shows they may have missed.

So without further ado, today we will start at Number 5 on our countdown, Episode 15 - 'HR Horror Stories' - original air date October 22, 2009.

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As this show was close to Halloween, the craziness, insanity, and general 'Did they actually just say that?' were in full effect. Bizarre interview tales, employee relations nightmares, and some stories that were so surreal I think my ears and sensitivities are still a little scarred.

Why I place this show in my Top 5 is that while certainly being fun, funny, and entertaining, it also kind of felt like we had come a long way in developing the kind of community of HR professionals that were becoming comfortable being really open, honest, and a bit unguarded. And also because some of the stories were simply outrageous.

So in case you are new to the show, or even if perhaps you do remember all the way back to Episode 15, I hope you will give it another listen.

There you have it - Steve's Top 5 - Number 5 - Episode 15 - 'HR Horror Stories

Be sure to come back tomorrow, and the rest of the week as we count down to number 1.

Best of the HR Happy Hour 2010 - Part IV

Today we wrap up the look back at the best of the HR Happy Hour from 2010 with the top show from the 4th quarter, the period from October - December 2010. But first, a quick review of the top shows from the first nine months of the year:

Best of Q1 - Episode 28 -'Chief Culture Officer'

Best of Q2 - Episode 49 - 'The Why of Work'

Best of Q3 - Episode 59 - 'About Your Performance Review'

The top show from the 4th quarter of 2010 is a show originally aired on November 11, 2010 - Episode 75 - 'HR and Enterprise Collaboration.

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This was a really interesting and informative show, and I selected it as a 'Best Of' pick from 2010 not just for the content of the show itself, but rather almost any '2011 Predictions' article we see these days talks about the need for organizations to become more connected, more collaborative, and frankly better at using and leveraging the knowledge and ideas of their people.  New technologies, more enlightened leaders, and more adept HR professionals all have important roles to play in transforming organizations into more capable and efficient collaborative enterprises, and for those reasons mainly, I think this show represents well what the HR Happy Hour can do, bring to light an important topic, gather leading experts from around the world, and share and discuss with our listeners and friends.

So we made our selections for the 'Best of 2010' , there are a few other shows that we really enjoyed and I did want to mention them here in the yearly wrap-up post.

Best of the Rest for 2010

Episode 26 - 'The Best HR City' - A really fun show where we tried to determine which city was the 'best' for HR.  Spirited debate, passionate supporters, and in the end, a dominant win for.....

Episode 36 - 'Show Me the Money' - A in-depth look at one of the most fundamental aspects of the HR world, employee compensation.  Super guests, great content, and an interesting show.

Episode 47 - 'HR and Indie Culture' - Another departure from 'traditional' HR topics, but a really interesting look at the world of Indie culture with Kaya Oakes, author of 'Slanted and Enchanted'.  Slanted was my favorite book in 2010, and this was quite possibly my favorite show of the year.

Episode 54 - 'Enterprise 2.0 and HR' - Our initial look at the world of Enterprise collaboration and the role for HR and HR leaders. Andrew McAfee, creator of term Enterprise 2.0 and author of the book 'Enterprise 2.0' joined us for a great look at the role these technologies will play inside organizations.

Episode 72 - 'Fistful of Talent Radio' - It is an honor to be a part of the crew at Fistful of Talent, and even more fun when they come by the HR Happy Hour show.  Great people, interesting takes on recruiting and talent, and a super fun show.

That is just a few of the many shows we really enjoyed this year - but the year is not over just yet, and we have one more offering in 2010!

Tonight 8PM ET - December 30, 2010 - Episode 80 - 'HR Happy New Year'

Call in on 646-378-1086 or listen from the show page here, or using the player below:



We will look back on 2010, talk about some of favorite shows and guests, as well as look forward to 2011.  We don't have any 'official' guests booked, so we are relying on the listeners to give us a call and participate tonight.

Thanks so much for all the support and encouragement this year, and I hope you will be with us in 2011 as we keep going with more and hopefully even better show.

Thanks again!