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    Entries in culture (76)

    Friday
    Mar112016

    Movie Batmans, Ranked

    This very subject was discussed in a recent conversation with four or five extremely successful business people, all of whom I would hazard to guess consider themselves very smart persons. Which just proves the world needs to know, Which movie Batman is the best movie Batman? 

    So without delay I present the unscientific, unresearched, completely subjective, and yet 100% accurate list of Movie Batmans, Ranked.

    6. Ben Affleck Batman - "Batman vs. Superman", 2016

    Hard to say for sure until the movie comes out. But if Affleck thinks Batman is a match for Superman then he is insane. Which he is. Batman I mean. Possibly. Also, Affleck was TERRIBLE as Daredevil.

    5. Val Kilmer Batman - "Batman Forever", 1995

    Should have held out for a "Top Gun" remake instead of donning the cape and cowl.

    4. George Clooney Batman - "Batman & Robin", 1997

    Possibly the worst overall movie on this list. Clooney just never seemed to fit the role. Batman shouldn't be so perfectly handsome I think.

    3. Adam West Batman - "Batman: The Movie", 1966

    For a generation, Adam West was Batman. This was before Batman became the Dark Knight of course. West's Batman was more like the Chubby Knight. But is deadpan delivery of some of the most absurd dialogue in the character's history places him in the Top 3.

    2. Christian Bale Batman - "Batman Begins", 2005; "The Dark Knight", 2008;, "The Dark Knight Rises", 2012

    Probably the best overall actor on this list, Bale was just about perfect as the 'modern', darker Batman. Bale's Batman was intense, brooding, and violent. Which is exactly what the best Batman stories were all about. 

    1. Michael Keaton Batman - "Batman", 1989; "Batman Returns", 1992

    Back in 1989, Keaton seemed an unlikely choice to play a vigilante superhero. Better known for comic roles in movies like "Night Shift" and "Mr. Mom", somehow Keaton nailed the Batman role with a mix of dark and witty. His "I'm Batman" line sums it up the best - Keaton was Batman.

    There you have it. Glad to settle an argument you possibly didn't know you were having.

    You can let me know if the comments if you disagree with these rankings, but as I mentioned, you would be wrong.

    Have a great weekend!

    Monday
    Feb292016

    PODCAST - #HRHappyHour 235 - Integrating Culture, Practice, and Product

    HR Happy Hour 235 - LIVE from Hollywood: Integrating Culture, Practice, and Product

    Recorded Wednesday February 25, 2016 in Hollywood, California

    Hosts: Steve BoeseTrish McFarlane

    Guests: Lisa Sterling, Jayson Saba, John Sumser

    Listen to the show HERE

    This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve and Trish recorded LIVE from the Ceridian Analyst Day in Hollywood, California. Our guests are Lisa Sterling and Jayson Saba from Ceridian and John Sumser from HR Examiner.  They are some of the most interesting, influential, and engaging leaders in the HR Technology industry. 

    On the show, we talked about designing HR technologies that incorporate culture and practice into them.  Lisa explained how Ceridian believes it's important to really demonstrate the best practices internally and live them so that when they design software, it flows into the product too.  Jayson and John shared their insights on how the industry is changing and what HR leaders need and want.  We did all of this while enjoying the band at the W Hotel entertaining in the background.  Trish also talks about her brush with her favorite event..... THE OSCARS!  While there were no celebrity spottings during the show, we still had fun and a few drinks.

    You can listen to the show on the show page here, or by using the widget player below:

    This was a fun and engaging show - many thanks to Lisa, Jayson and John and to everyone at Ceridian for hosting the Happy Hour!

    Be sure to subscribe to the HR Happy Hour on iTunes or your favorite podcast app - just search for 'HR Happy Hour' and you will be sure to never miss a show.

    Wednesday
    Feb172016

    HRE Column: Rethinking Culture and Strategy

    Here is my semi-frequent reminder and pointer for blog readers that I also write a monthly column at Human Resource Executive Online called Inside HR Tech and that archives of which can be found here.

    As usual, the Inside HR Tech column is about, well, HR Tech, (sort of like I used to write about all the time on this blog), and it was inspired by a recent HR Happy Hour Show that Trish McFarlane and I did with Anthony Abbatiello from Deloitte, and that focused (primarlily) on the connection between organizational culture and business strategy. This was a great conversation, and I encourage you check it out.

    On the show, Anthony also talked about a new software product from Deloitte called CulturePath, designed to help organizations not only understand and assess their culture, but to also help HR and business leaders with the critical task of aligning culture with business strategy. Since I thought the show was so interesting, and the product incredibly interesting, it was the topic of my latest column for HR Executive.

    Here is an excerpt from the HRE column, 'Rethinking Culture and Strategy'

    From HR Executive...

    The "Culture is King" folks sometimes would make us think that a "fun" or "flexible" or "inclusive" culture (or whatever other adjective you prefer that connotes some kind of healthy or desirable culture) is all, or at least nearly all, any organization needs for success.

    This point of view conveniently ignores the idea that, no matter how much free food, foosball tables and flexible-work arrangements an organization has, if they don't have a compelling product or service that meets a true market need, and have recruited and retained the "right" set of talented people to execute on the strategic plans, then all the great organizational culture in the world will still result in failure.

    Plus, it ignores the fact that, for just about every successful organization, the business strategy was formulated first, and then the culture developed around that strategy and through the organization's people.

    So what I am really saying is that culture can't  -- and doesn't -- exist in some kind of vacuum. It has to co-exist and be in alignment with the organization's strategy and resonate with the actual people who inform the culture and execute the strategy.

    My belief that we can't consider culture alone when thinking about what makes an organization successful is probably why I am really impressed with a new technology solution I have recently become familiar with: CulturePath, from the consultancy and advisory firm Deloitte. This solution represents an interesting and important evolution in how we think about culture, strategy and people in the organization.

    The CulturePath solution surveys employees in the organization and then analyzes the aggregated data to measure the organization's cultural attributes across a spectrum of core indices such as collective focus, external orientation, and change and innovation, as well as differentiating indices such as courage, commitment and shared beliefs. The goal is to assess how well the attitudes and behaviors of employees align with, and support, the desired business strategy...

    Read the rest at HR Executive... 

    Good stuff, right? Darn right it is. Ok, just humor me...  And be sure to check out the HR Happy Hour Show where Anthony Abbatiello from Deloitte talks culture, strategy, and technology.

    If you liked the piece you can sign up over at HRE to get the Inside HR Tech Column emailed to you each month. There is no cost to subscribe, in fact, I may even come over and take your dog out for a walk or dig your car out of the snow if you do sign up for the monthly email.

    Have a great day and rest of the week!

    Monday
    Jan042016

    What HR should be talking about most in 2016, (and what we need to stop talking about)

    My second annual (here is last year's in case you are interested), completely unscientific, biased, personal, and guaranteed to be 100% accurate take on what HR, work, and workplace technology topics we will be spending endless cycles dissecting and analyzing in 2015, followed by a short list of topics that we have, have, have to stop it already with lamenting.

    These 'hot' topics were complied from a scientific review of all the stuff I saved, tweeted, bookmarked, or emailed to myself over the holiday break, because since I read everything, that is the only research that is really needed. Also, and as an aside, I still email myself stuff all the time and every time I do that I feel like a noob. Oh well, here goes...

    What HR should be talking about most in 2016:

    Intelligent Technology - Last year I had 'Predictive Analytics' as one of my three things HR should be talking about in 2015. And talk about it many folks did, even if not very many organizations have as yet had either the technology in place or the organizational readiness for adapting this kind of advanced analysis into their day-to-day HR functions. But even if many or even most organizations are not yet there with predictive analytics, more and more of the major and leading HR technology solution providers are baking in predicitive capability into thier platforms and providing at least basic 'predictions' on things like retention and peformance to HR and business leaders already. And I think this trend and set of tools will continue to expand in capabiliy and usage in 2016. But this year, I hope that HR and HR tech expands not just the capability but the conversation in this area just a bit further, into something more akin to a kind of 'intelligent' set of tools and workflows that will help HR, managers, and employees complete processes, tasks, and hopefully allow them to make better decisions. This technology would not just predict the likelihood of a potential outcome, but would 'learn' from usage patterns, history, preferences, and more about what you (the employee) should do next, given a set of data and process conditions. That could mean surfacing the 'right' learning content when you get assigned to a new project, suggesting you make an internal connection with a specific colleague when you run a search in the corporate knowlege base for a specific topic, or if you are a manger, provide you intelligent recommendations about how to handle coaching conversations with your team members, adapted to their individual profiles and preferences. I think there is plenty more we can and should be doing with all the data that our systems are capturing. In 2016 HR and HR tech should be talking about this much, much more.

    Benefits - I may be way off, but I think boring old benefits are going to be a big deal in 2016. And while the compliance-related ACA driven stuff will always be an important issue for HR, I am not even talking about that side of benefits. No, I am referring to that collection of non-cash rewards that in a tightening labor market can play a huge role in retention, engagement, and productivity - all things that remain important in just about any year. Expand the definition of 'benefits' a little to include all the various initiatives that organizations have or may undertake in order to improve work/life balance for their employees, (flexible work, modified schedules, enhancements to parental leave, etc), and suddenly benefits and related becomes a much more strategic and powerful set of tools in the HR leader's workshop. Last item on this: In 2016 I think 'Financial wellness' will be a subject of more conversations than in the last 10 years combined. 

    Employee Experience - This an offshoot of the prior point about Benefits and kind of expands that line of thinking into things like the design, layout, and function of workspaces, as well as the technologies and methods that are employed to facilitate individuals and teams getting their work done while feeling good about that work they are doing. With workers demanding more flexible schedules and locations, and many organizations desire to reduce real estate footprints and costs, figuring out the best ways to juggle people, places, technologies, and the workload will be a primary challenge and opportunity for HR leaders in 2016. Employee experience is a big topic, and most organizations don't really think about it in those terms. Rather, they manage the heck out of individual components of the experience, (recruiting, onboarding, technology, facilities, org design, training, performance management, comp, etc.), and hope that somehow the overall package adds up to a winning combination. Sometimes that works. Sometimes not. Most organizations have a pretty senior executive who 'owns' the overall customer experience and/or success, why not have a similar exec in the HR office that would own the employee experience/success?

    And Here is what HR needs to stop talking about in 2016:

    Millennials - If you are a semi-frequent reader of the blog, you may remember this post from a couple of weeks ago - CHART OF THE DAY: We can FINALLY stop talking about Millennials. In the piece, I shared some data that showed that in the USA that Gen Z (the one that comes after the Millennials), have just about caught up to the Millennials in terms of numbers. Additionally, the youngest members of Gen Z are now starting to enter the workforce. Add this all up and it can only mean one thing - if you are STILL talking about Millennials in 2016 you are going to sound like you've been beamed back to 2008. The only interesting generations are these: The one just emerging on to the scene as contributing members of society (Gen Z), and the one that is predominantly in charge of things, (Government, business, institutions). I would argue that is Gen X at this point. Bottom line: no more about Millennials in 2016 please.

    The 'Gig' Economy - Here's the thing about the rise in importance of the so-called 'Gig Economy', it is quite possible that its growth as a percentage of the labor force has been generally exaggerated possibly due to the oversized coverage that the largest Gig company, Uber, has received over the years. According to this Wall St. Journal piece from last July:

    Far from turning into a nation of gig workers, Americans are becoming slightly less likely to be self-employed, and less prone to hold multiple jobs. Official government data shows around 95% of those who report having jobs are accounted for on the formal payroll of U.S. employers, little changed from a decade ago.

    If Uber and its ilk were fundamentally undermining the relationship workers have with employers, that shift would be showing up in at least some of the key economic indicators. Hundreds of thousands of Americans, or even a few million, may have dabbled in the gig economy, but in the context of the 157 million-strong U.S. labor force, the trend remains marginal.

    It is possible that since there are likely more 'Gig' workers in coastal 'elite' cities like New York and San Francisco, and folks in these cities dominate the conversations in the media, that it just feels like the Gig economy is fast becoming the dominant form of work. But the data just doesn't reflect that, at least not yet. And it likely will not in 2016 or in 2018 or maybe even in 2020. So for now, it makes sense to think about your labor force composition, sure, (just like it always has), but massive, fundamental changes in that mix of labor is not typically top of mind for most organizations.

    Employee Engagement - A holdover from my list of things HR should stop talking about from last year, I fear the conversations about employee engagement hardly ebbed in 2015. Why do I keep thinking we need to drop the employee engagement conversation? Well, for the same reasons as I wrote back in late 2014, namely that Only 30% of employees are 'engaged'. That has become an immutable truth of work and workplaces. It is right alongside 'Average annual salary increases will be 3% this year' as the most expected headline of the year in HR. And so maybe it is time to just accept it. Lots of people are not 'engaged' and probably will never be no matter what. Quit worrying about it. Worry about if they show up, they get their jobs done, they don't leak the company intranet to the North Koreans, and they don't microwave leftover fish in the lunch room. We (collectively) have spent ages of time, effort, and energy trying to 'fix' engagement and we have (so far) failed. Maybe it's time to take a year off.  

    Ok, I am out. What say you? Am I close on this? Or off the mark? 

    Have a great week and a fantastic 2016!

    Tuesday
    Dec292015

    PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 229 - Lessons from the Academy of Rock

    HR Happy Hour 229 - Lessons from The Academy of Rock with Peter Cook

    Recorded Tuesday, December 22, 2015

    Hosts: Steve BoeseTrish McFarlane

    Guest: Peter Cook, Founder, Human Dynamics

    LISTEN HERE

    This week on the show, Steve and Trish were joined by Peter Cook, leads Human Dynamics, offering Business and Organisation Development. He also delivers keynotes around the world that blend business intelligence with parallel lessons from music via The Academy of Rock.

    We chat with Peter, about the impact of music on our success and learning in business.  We also talk about his new book (coming out in 2016) called  Leading Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise.  Peter shares his stories from a lifetime in business and experiences with many well-known musicians.  

    You can listen to the show on the show page HERE, or by using he widget player below, (email and RSS subscribers will need to click through)

    This was a really fun and interesting show and I hope you will check it out.

    As a reminder, you can find the HR Happy Hour Show on iTunes and all the major podcast apps for iOS and Android. Just search for 'HR Happy Hour' and add the show to your playlists and you will never miss a show. And follow the HR Happy Hour Show on Twitter - @HRHappyHour.

    Finally, thanks for listening to the show in 2015 - lots more in store for next year!