On Being Radical and Making Choices

Much of this weekend's free time was spent grinding through the ridiculous backlog of Google Reader items that had built up during the five days I spent in Las Vegas last week for HRevolution and the HR Technology Conference. Of the many thousands of items I at least title-scanned, and the hundred or so I actually read - this was by far the top piece of the lot, from the Scientific American 'Context and Variation' blog, a piece called 'The three things I learned at the Purdue Conference for Pre-Tenure Women: on being a radical scholar.'Old-school radical.

At first glance I was tempted to pass by the piece, I am, after-all, not pre-tenure, nor a woman. But for whatever reason I decided to read the piece by Kate Clancy, and was immediately glad I did, because in the length of a standard blog post, Ms. Clancy manages to to touch on not one but two interesting and massively important ideas that transcend the purely academic context in which she writes, and are applicable and worth contemplating in the broader world of work.

Take Number One - Lots of jobs require ridiculous amounts of time, effort, energy, and commitment to succeed.

And to get ahead you often need to 'beat' the other person that wants that title/money/prestige just as much as you do. But if the 'external' demands on your time and your competitor are unequal, (in Ms. Clancy's case she is a parent of a young child), then you are heading into the competition with constraints and pressures that can make the battle seem not worth fighting. I know the whole 'kids vs. career' tradeoff is not a new issue, but Ms. Clancy does a great job of recognizing the issues without asking for sympathy or special treatment. From the piece:

We sit some more. We talk some more. About how we can’t compete against people with kids but a stay at home spouse, about how we can’t compete against our peers without kids at all. He is in a department where people show up early and stay late. You can find a third of the faculty in the department at any given time on the weekends. I’m in a department where folks work from home as often as they work from the office, but they are still getting stuff done. And it feels like they are all getting more done than me.

Pile the ubiquitous Mommy Guilt on top of this, the culturally conditioned guilt that says not staying at home hurts my child despite the intellectual knowledge that good daycare, and the kind of quality investments I make with my daughter, are hugely beneficial, and there are few hours in my day to sleep.

It's the grind most of us, even those of us not chasing a major career objective like academic tenure, but simply trying to do more, better, more innovative things have run into. The more commitments and obligations you have outside of work, the tougher your fight to the top, (or even the middle), is going to be. Neither Ms. Clancy nor I have this figured out yet by the way.

Take Two - On traditional measures of success and influence.

In the Human Resources/Talent/Recruiting space we've had our share of navel-gazing debates about influence, and the challenge of assessing online influence compared to more traditional forms. Lance Haun led a popular session at HRevolution about this topic. While the debate continues, there seems to be little doubt that blogging, social media, and even non-traditional and 'unconferences' like HRevolution and others are chipping away at the established ideas about influence and perhaps even authority in our industry.  In the Scientific American piece that focuses on the world of academics, Ms. Clancy wonders about the continued reliance on publication in academic journals as the standard of relevance, achievement, and influence in her field.  Again from the piece:

But are peer-reviewed publications, read and cited by only by a select group of those peers, the best way to assess influence and importance? They are certainly no longer the only way. My 2006 paper on iron-deficiency anemia and menstruation has been cited by six other papers; my 2011 blog post on this paper has been viewed tens of thousands of times and received almost sixty comments between its two postings.

Boom. The entire 'old school vs. new school' measures of influence argument summed up in two sharp sentences. Again, neither the Scientific American piece nor I profess to have all the answers for this, but it is clear that even in the stodgy world of academia there appear to be calls for change, or at least dialogue about how these newer (they are really not all that 'new' anymore), can and should impact the industry in more significant ways. Ms. Clancy want to be, as I suspect many of you do, to be more 'radical', and more true to their interests and passions in the face of slower-moving organizations of power.

I hope you take a few minutes to read Ms. Clancy's entire article, for me it represents some of the best and most thought-provoking content I've run across in quite some time.

Have a great week!

In which I admit to my robot obsession...

Just a quick one today, and yes just like yesterday's post the subject is robots, and their slow, steady, inexorable march to world domination. And quite frankly I don't have a problem with all the robot posts, since my favorite source of inspiration and content, the National Basketball Association, seems intent on remaining in a labor impasse for who knows how long, and I have to write about something.How are you feeling? That will be a $50 co-pay.

So for a busy Friday, the day before getaway day to Las Vegas and HRevolution (tickets still available), and the HR Technology Conference, another dispatch from the Robots vs. Humans front lines, this time from Slate.com:

Will Robots Steal Your Job? - Why the highest-paid doctors are the most vulnerable to automation

Yep, another take on the upcoming, heck already started process of further automation and supplementation of traditional careers and functions by complex and dedicated robot technology. But like yesterday's post where I featured robot technology beginning to make inroads into farming, the piece from Slate shows us even highly specialized, highly paid, and highly complex tasks like the evaluation of medical samples for signs of cancer can and are beginning to be encroached by robot labor.

I don't keep reading and posting about these 'robot stories' here because I find them to be surprising, or that most readers might not be aware that automation in all facets of industry, from low-tech to high-tech is an unstoppable boulder rolling down hill. It can't and won't be stopped.

But why I like to read these pieces, and think about them, is more about our reaction and response to these developments.  And on that note, I'd like to end this post with the most compelling point from the Slate.com piece:

By definition, specialists focus on narrow slices of medicine. They spend their days worrying over a single region of the body, and the most specialized doctors will dedicate themselves to just one or two types of procedures. Robots, too, are great specialists. They excel at doing one thing repeatedly, and when they focus, they can achieve near perfection. At some point—and probably faster than we expect—they won't need any human supervision at all.

There's a message here for people far beyond medicine: If you do a single thing—and especially if there's a lot of money in that single thing—you should put a Welcome, Robots!doormat outside your office. They're coming for you.

Boom. Specialization, even high-touch, highly complex, valuable specialization that requires spending years training, developing, and perfecting, still that is no guarantee or security against a robot that van do it better, cheaper, and faster. Even if those skills are ones that society needs and highly values, that's no protection in the long term.

The message? Invent something new, stay one step ahead of the robot masters? You'd better be prepared to keep inventing.

Or possibly the message is to continuously explore, challenge, and differentiate yourself as being more than a highly trained, highly skilled one-trick pony. Because if all you are only bringing one thing to the table, no matter how wonderful and complex that one thing is, chances are, eventually, someone else, maybe ever a robot, can do it better.

I promise no more posts about robots for a while, unless the NBA season gets canceled!

Have a great weeekend and if you are heading out to HRevolution or the HR Technology Conference be sure to find me and say hello.

What is the Future of Work? Good Question...

Tonight on the HR Happy Hour Show, I will be joined by Human Resources Technology legend Naomi Bloom to talk about work, the future of work, and have an open and participatory conversation about how the massive changes in the nature and notion of work will affect us in our careers, and certainly our children and grandchildren in the coming years.

You can listen to the show live tonight at 8:00 PM ET on the show page here, or by calling in to the listener/guest line - 646-378-1086. 

There has been no shortage of attention and energy spent in the last few years by various experts, authors, corporate leaders, and lowly bloggers attempting to make sense of the massive changes in work and industry brought on by worldwide recession, the emergence of high-speed internet connectivity, the prevalence of super-powered smartphones, and rise of social networks. While there might not be consensus among the experts and pundits about what the true 'future of work' will look like; one thing seems certain - it won't look or feel like anything we have known before.

No, with technology and robotics capable of automating and improving even more higher value functions and processes, with the rise of what is for many industries and professions a truly global competition for capital and opportunity, and the continuing 're-thinking' of the modern organization; it seems a given that work, the nature of 'employment', and the skills and capabilities required to remain relevant and successful simply have to change to meet these new challenges.

But while it is easy to say that work is changing,and the old 'employer contract' is long dead, it is quite a bit more challenging to determine what strategies and actions should be pursued by workers today, and the ones to follow, to best prepare and brace themselves for these changing conditions.

Is it the pursuit of entrepreneurship?

The willingness to embrace a series of consecutive or even simultaneous short-term gigs?

Acceptance of the fact that where you are now in your career is not at all likely to be a good predictor of where you will end up?

Or realization that in today's do-more-with-less-always-connected-smartphone-enabled world that you had better be prepared to work ridiculous hours, be always available, and give up what passes for your pathetic social life in order to not just get ahead, but to fend off the robot that wants your job?

Or something else entirely?

Tonight on the HR Happy Hour Show we plan to have an open and honest discussion about work, and what work might look like in the future, and talk about some ideas around how best to prepare for and survive.

Sure, we don't profess to have all the answers, but maybe you do, and I hope you will listen in and even consider offering some of your insight and advice as well.

It should be a fun and lively show, and I hope you can join us tonight!

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!

Hate your Job? Maybe being a little foolish is the best advice to take

I was simply going to 'retweet' this piece from Matt Stillman on the consistently outstanding Stillman Says blog, but I want to link to it from here in hopes maybe a few more folks might take a few minutes and check it out.

Matt recently talked with a lawyer, one who expressed disenchantment with her chosen field, and the conversation and eventual advice Matt offered to the unhappy lawyer is in equal parts fascinating and fantastic.

Go check out the entire piece here, but if you can't spare the five or ten minutes it will take you to read the story, I will share the money line here:

Having the itchy feeling of dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs is standard. But to truly have an open door to following your bliss there is a requisite level of fearlessness that must be taken on. The fearlessness to disappoint or to be foolish are two of many that can be featured.

If you read the piece you will see that Matt doesn't advise the lawyer to simply quit her good and probably high-paying job to crazily chase some wild dream, but rather to simply think about the situation in a slightly new and creative way, and that by taking a small, non-dangerous, but still positive step in the exploration of something new and exciting, the lawyer could start to see what might actually be possible.

I think that is super advice, we tend to not want to believe something could be real or even possible when it seems so big, or represents such a massive shift or change in what we think of as safe or normal that we can simply get intimidated or frightened into inactivity. Permitting ourselves to make the first step in a new direction is possibly the hardest part. Matt offered the lawyer a way to make the scary step seem very safe.

Nice one Mr. Stillman.

Postscript - Matt was a recent guest on the HR Happy Hour Show, and it was absolutely one of our most interesting shows of 2011. You can listen to the replay of that show here.