This Week: Catch the HR Happy Hour Live From ERE Expo

This week I am at the ERE Expo in Hollywood, Florida to attend and host the event's live stream on the HR Happy Hour Live on Thursday September 8th, and Friday September 9th. The HR Happy Hour Show - Live from ERE Expo will be a fun and hopefully informative supplement to ERE's live session coverage from the event.

ERE has long been a leader in making conference content more accessible to community members that are not able to attend its events in person, by live streaming keynote speeches, general sessions, panel discussions, and more. The HR Happy Hour Live from ERE is another innovative idea and service supported by the team at ERE to make the virtual conference experience more informative and valuable.

So how does it all work and how can you catch the live stream from ERE Expo?

Here are the details from the HR Happy Hour - Live from ERE Expo home page:

To provide our virtual attendees a world class experience this year, we have once again teamed up with Steve Boese and his popular HR Happy Hour online radio show to do just that.

If you aren’t planning to be in South Florida for the Expo, we invite you to join the ERE Expo live stream for‘HR Happy Hour Live from ERE Expo’ with host Steve Boese as he welcomes conference speakers, recruiting industry leaders, and some special guests for discussion, commentary, and ‘web-only’ exclusive programming. The special live stream HR Happy Hour broadcast will give the viewer a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look into the ERE Expo, and will complement the numerous keynotes, sessions, and panels that will also be streamed live. The ‘HR Happy Hour live from ERE Expo’ stream kicks off on Thursday, September 8 at 8:30 a.m. ET and runs through the conclusion of ERE Expo on Friday, September 9 at 5:00 p.m. ET, so make sure to block your schedule for those days.

Some of the guests that will be featured on the live web stream over the next two days include Elaine Orler, Gerry Crispin, Linda Brenner, Jason Warner, and more to come. So once the conference kicks off tomorrow, Thursday September 8th, head over to the ERE site and click the 'live stream' link to get dialed in. And of cource you can follow the back channel conversations on Twitter - just follow hashtags #EREexpo and #HRHappyHour.

I hope you can spend some time catching up on all the happenings from ERE Expo, even if you can't be here in person enjoying the event (and the sunshine and the beach.).

Thanks again to my friends at ERE for asking the HR Happy Hour Show to be a part of their event. It should be a fantastic two days of information and education.

How much does differentiation matter?

When your job is designing and delivering a product or service to the market it is altogether fitting and expected that you'll take an initial and then periodic view of the competitive landscape for said product or service to see how your offering stacks up in the marketplace, and to attempt to find and exploit perceived weaknesses and differences that (hopefully), present your solutions and services in the most positive light.

It just makes sense, and is typically a fundamental piece of any company's 'go to market' strategy. What is the other guy doing? What features does their product have? Should we build those features too? What does our solution provide that the other guy can't match? And how do we best communicate and reinforce those differences that we 'win' on in the market so that there is no confusion about why our products and services are better?

But sometimes, perhaps more often that we like to think, we focus too much on what our competitors are doing, saying, building, etc.; and not enough on what our current and potential customers are saying and doing with our products. 

Last week I caught a really interesting piece on the Fast Company CoDesign site titled 'Think You're An Industry Leader? Not So Fast', that makes an interesting point - that often as product and service designers and implementers, (and that for the most part is everyone working in Human Resources, recruiting, HR Technology, and so on), that this primary focus on competitors detracts from what should really be our true goals - to understand the customers, to empathize with their problems and challenges, and to build systems and solutions to address their needs primarily.

From the CoDesign piece:

This is the first mistake organizations make when thinking about digital interactions with their customers. They measure themselves against the competition instead of really understanding what their customers actually need.

How can you improve your understanding of customer needs? By connecting with customers more deeply and in ways that move the dialog beyond simple check the box RFP exercises.

Again from CoDesign:

In short, you gain empathy for them, (customers). Great applications are created by those who fully empathize with the user’s needs. Our team must walk a day in the life of the person they are designing for and act as a proxy for the user in the design and integrations processes. I was once asked, “Is there such a thing as a stupid user?” The answer is no; there are only ignorant designers. Any good designer will tell you there’s no such thing as user error -- anything the user can’t figure out is just bad design.

It is not easy, I think, to try and lower your sights against your competition. After all, in most purchase decision processes the customers pick one 'winner', while leaving the also-rans to contemplate the reasons why they did not win the contract and secure the customer's business. Perhaps the first step into really thinking more from the customer's point of view is to frame these kinds of post-mortem discussions less in terms of 'Why Did Company 'X' beat us?' and more in terms of 'What customer problem were we unable to solve?'.

What do you think - would more time being spent on understanding and truly empathizing with your customers and less time worrying about Brand 'X' help your business?

Please welcome our new VP of Marketing. Yes, that's really him

So let's pretend you are a dedicated marketing pro at a low-key but solid wholesale grocery distribution company in Tennessee and you have seen notice or heard through the company grapevine that the VP of Marketing position is open. VP slots at small and medium size companies don't just open up every day, and as you learn more about the opening, you become more intrigued. Casual Friday in the Marketing department?

You've got over 10 years experience marketing in this industry, almost five at the current company, and you have been given progressively more responsibility, high profile projects, and control over a small team and budget. You like the company, love living in the area, and have cemented solid relationships in the local business community as well as been an active participant in a few industry associations, even serving as a conference speaker on a couple of occasions.  You have even let your Gen-Y staffers run with the whole 'social media' thing to support the company marketing efforts. It isn't for you personally, but you realize that times are changing, and empowering the right people to help navigate through these changes just seems to make sense.

All told, you have some really solid qualifications for the VP role, and if the company had one of those progressive HR constructs known as a 'succession plan', your name would almost certainly been in the 'Ready now' box for the VP of Marketing role. So as you sit down at your desk to have one last look at your resume before firing off an email to the CEO to forward your name for consideration for the VP position, you see a company-wide announcement drop in to your inbox.

It reads : Please welcome our new VP of Marketing - Bruce Pearl. 

You think - What? Bruce Pearl? The former University of Tennessee Men's Basketball Coach that was fired for lying to NCAA investigators during an investigation into the program's recruiting practices? A guy who has been a basketball coach for the last 25 years or so, and whose only knowledge and experience in the grocery business is that perhaps occasionally he shops in one?

That's our new VP of Marketing?

The bit about the Marketing Manager I just made up, but back in the 'real' world the aforementioned Bruce Pearl was indeed just hired by the wholesale grocery distribution firm H.T. Hackney as their new VP of Marketing.

Now I don't profess to know anything about H.T. Hackney, or the climate of the Knoxville area wholesale grocery distribution business, but taken simply at face value, the hiring of Pearl into a VP of Marketing role fresh off recent scandal, and perhaps more importantly, an entire professional career that had pretty much nothing to do with the grocery business or corporate marketing seems quite baffling. Sure, the company gets a short-term publicity pop, everyone in the area knows who Pearl is, and most probably never heard of H.T. Hackney before, but longer term, can or will a hire like Pearl cause more damage than good?

I wonder if there really is a H.T. Hackney Marketing manager that won't get his or her shot because of this move. Or maybe there is a slate of great marketing pros that are looking for their next career move that would have made a super hire for the position.

I guess time will tell, but I do think these kinds of stunt hires, particularly ones we see that are sport-related, don't seem to work out all that well.  

In Hackney's defense, this article from ESPN announcing the Pearl hire refers to a news release where Hackney officials refer to Pearl's 'marketing and economic background as a student at Boston College', as some justification and support for the hire.

In these tough economic times it's good to know that a solid education still carries weight in the job market. Even if, as in Pearl's degree, it was earned in 1982.

Have a great and long holiday weekend!

HR Happy Hour Show Tonight: Work and what it means to you

Tonight on the HR Happy Hour Show (8PM ET/5PM PT), we are going to change it up a bit from the more formal, guest-driven interview style shows we have been doing, and open up the phones (and the Twitter backchannel on #HRHappyHour), to simply talk about work.

Yep, it is that simple. Just an hour of open and loosely structured conversation, in honor of the upcoming Labor Day holiday in the USA, to share observations, stories, critiques, and congratulations about our experiences with work and in our careers.

What was your first 'real' job? 

What was the best job you ever had? The worst one?

What were some of the early experiences in your career that have shaped and helped determine what you are today? 

Who was influential to you as you got your start and deserves a thank you? Who influences you now?

And finally, if you are currently looking for work, or are just looking for a change - what is it you'd really like to do? What's your dream job?

We hope many of the loyal HR Happy Hour Show listeners will call in tonight to share their stories, experiences, and insights about work.

But wait - there's more!

As an added bonus longtime HR Happy Hour Show co-host Shauna Moerke, the HR Minion will make a special guest appearance on the show to climb back in the co-pilot seat tonight. And you know she will have some great stories.

Here's how to listen and participate tonight:

The show starts at 8:00PM ET tonight, Sept. 1, 2011.

Listen live from the show page here - HR Happy Hour - Episode 116- 'The Labor Day Show'

Or using the widget player embedded here:

Listen to internet radio with Steve Boese on Blog Talk Radio

Call in to get on the air using - 646-378-1086 and Press '1' once you are connected and you will be on!

And finally, follow the backchannel conversation on Twitter - hashtag #HRHappyHour

It should be a really fun show and I hope you can join us!

Everyone's talking about the HRevolution

The next iteration of the justifiably legendary HRevolution event for Human Resources and business leaders is set for October 2, 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. We do have a fantastic lineup of sessions and presenters once again, to learn more about what you'll learn, check out the HRevolution Sessions and Speakers page here.

But, rather than me go on (again), telling you how amazing the HRevolution events are, and how you need to be there, I'd like to point you to two other pieces that make the point for me.

First, Jay Kuhns on the 'No Excuses HR' blog offers 'HRevolution: Did You Answer the Challenge?', which is simultaneously a challenge and a re-commitment to apply the lessons learned, and the connections made at the last HRevolution to Jay's role as a senior HR leader. That kind of passion, and ongoing support and community that manifests at HRevolution events is like none other in the HR space.

Second, head over to HRevolution co-founder Trish McFarlane's HR Ringleader blog today to get the rundown on the specifics and logistics for next month's event. On her piece titled 'Teamwork and Sticks in a Bundle', Trish spells out how she sees important parallels in the her team of HR professionals and the team and community from HRevolution.  Trish describes what we who have attended previous HRevolution events all have realized, these events do make us better at what we do.

The HRevolution information site can be found here, and to register for your ticket to attend the event on October 2nd, head over to the registration page.

As a bonus, in partnership with the 14th Annual HR Technology Conference that will be held October 3-5, 2011- immediately after the HRevolution, all attendees of HRevolution will receive a special discount code for HR Technology, good for $600 off the HR Tech show listed rate. This is the largest discount code for HR Tech that is still available, and it is good right up to the day of the show.  

I hope you will make the decsion to come to Las Vegas to participate in what is a really special and different kind of event, and better still, stay for the HR Technology Conference, which is the pre-eminent event of its kind.

If you have any questions at all about the event please shoot me a note - steveboese at gmail dot com.

Thanks!