VIDEO: Take That For Data

Yes, I know this is a few days old, and yes I know the 'Take That for Data' meme has probably already flamed out from your Twitter feed, but there still may be someone out there who missed Memphis Grizzlies coach David Fizdale's epic rant following a playoff loss to the San Antonio Spurs last week.

Tiny bit of backstory to set this up.

In the game of interest, (which the Spurs won), the Spurs were granted a massive advantage in free throw attempts - with one Spurs player Kawhi Leonard shooting 19 free throws himself, more than the entire Memphis team. After the game Coach Fizdale reflects on the loss, and the officiating in an already classic 2:45 minute rant.

Check the video below, and make sure you make it to the end,  (email and RSS subscribers click through), then some comments from me about why this was a really interesting take, (that have nothing to do with basketball).

Not one but two great meme lines in the rant!

But the walk off line, 'Take That for Data' is the one that stuck with me. Mainly because in the same video where Fizdale asserts 'I'm not a numbers' guy, he proceeds to rattle off 12 different statistics from the game - data points that strengthen his argument that the game was poorly officiated and that disadvantaged his team.

Why does this matter at all to anyone except hard core NBA fans?

Because Fizdale in his little rant makes plain the challenge and the tension that often arises in organizations and with leaders when they are pressed to take a more data driven approach to business/HR/talent when they are not naturally inclined to do so.

Don't tell me this is all about the data, then make decisions or drive toward outcomes that are incongruent with the data itself. 

Or said differently, if you are going to be the hero in your organization that will push the 'data' agenda, then be prepared to have your data be called out and your conclusions challenged when others have a shot at interpreting the data as well.

Take that for data.

Have a great week!

VIDEO: Steve on DisrupTV talking HR Tech, Disruption, and the NBA

Quick spot for a long holiday weekend getaway Friday. Wanted to share some video from Ray Wang and Vala Afshars' DisrupTV show, where I made an appearance I did last week.

On the show, Ray, Vala, (and with a special late in the show appearance by Holger Mueller, talk about HR Technology, digital disruption and transformation, and I even make a VERY bold prediction for the upcoming NBA season.

You can catch DisrupTV on the show's Vimeo page here, my appearance, (about 20 minutes), is here, and also embedded below, (email and RSS subscribers will need to click through).

DisrupTV Featuring Steve Boese, HR Technology Conference 8.26.16 from Constellation Research on Vimeo.

Hope you found the topics interesting and maybe, just maybe, you will agree with me on my NBA dark horse pick!

This was a really fun conversation - thanks to Ray and Vala for having me on the show!

Have a great, long weekend!

VIDEO: "Alexa, I hate my boss"

Earlier this year I blogged about and Trish McFarlane and I did an Episode of the HR Happy Hour Show loosely based on the annual Internet Trends Report by famous analyst Mary Meeker. In the most recent report, a fair bit of time was given towards the increase in capability and use of 'voice interfaces', e.g. tools like Siri, Cortana, and Amazon's Echo device.

Check out the video below from HR Tech provider ZipRecruiter on what an HR/Recruiting use case of the voice interface might look like incorporating Amazon Echo, (and it's 'Alexa' persona), and ZipRecruiter's database of open jobs. The video is really short, take one minute to check it out, then some closing thoughts from me after the clip. (Email and RSS subscribers click through).

Pretty cool, right? I admit it is kind of a simple, almost too simple example of the voice interface, (and I grant that this may even be 'real' functionality, just kind of an example), but I still was intrigued by the possibilities and potential of voice interaction with smart applications like Alexa to facilitate finding information and effecting interactions.

You could pretty easily imagine this video continuing with Alexa alerting the job applicant that her application is being considered, and suggesting a few times for an interview with the recruiter or hiring manager. Or maybe even the pre-screening type questions could just be 'asked' by Alexa right after the application is received, and the applicant can just have the conversation with Alexa rather than a HR phone screener.

At any rate, I thought the video and the application was very cool, I am not aware of any other HR tech provider working on something like this, so cheers to ZipRecruiter for thinking about the future and how technology will change the way we interact with talent and talent technologies.

Happy Wednesday.

VIDEO: Human Talks Show with guest Brent Skinner, Nucleus Research

A few weeks ago at the Oracle HCM World event in Chicago, I had the chance to partner with HR Happy Hour Show co-host and H3 HR Advisors CEO Trish McFarlane to record a video interview series titled "Human Talks" from the show floor.

I am excited to share this new video series that we did in partnership with Oracle. The Human Talks series is a show very similar to the HR Happy Hour Podcast where Trish and I were able to talk to HCM practitioners, analysts, and Oracle partners about some of the big issues, trends, and technologies in the HR and HR technology realms. Each episode is approximately 5 - 10 minutes or so, and well worth your time in hearing what is happening in the world of HCM. Please check out the first episode with one of our favorite industry analysts, Brent Skinner, Principal Analyst at Nucleus Research. You can check out the video HERE, or on the widget player below (email and RSS subscribers click through to see the video).

In this episode, Brent shares information on what their research is uncovering about performance management and learning and the impact from HCM technology. He also touches on how predictive analytics plays out in the workplace. Be sure to connect with Brent and Nucleus Research to learn more. 

This was a fun series of interviews and I will share future episodes of Human Talks as they are posted. 

Thanks to Trish and to our friends at Oracle for making this project possible.

VIDEO: Does your LinkedIn profile sound like this?

It is Tuesday, it is not quite Summer yet but you are thinking about vacation, and it is probably a little tough to get it going today. What you need is a break. And a laugh as well. 

So take 5 minutes and check out the hilarious 'LinkedIn OUT LOUD!' video (embedded below, email and RSS subscribers will need to click through), and marvel at what some, (hopefully not your), LinkedIn profiles actually sound like when read aloud by comic actors:

Awesome, and all too true as the source material comes from actual LinkedIn profiles. 

It was worth the 5 minutes right? Now you can go back to being a results oriented, customer-focused, global operator.

Happy Tuesday.