New Orleans and #SHRM22 has come and gone. Time sure does fly. Where else can you find President George W. Bush on the same stage that Brad Paisley rocked out to only mere hours prior. Although if I had it my way, Brad Paisley would have rocked with President Bush as the closing session. But it wasn’t all household names, the likes of Greg Hawks, Tim Sackett and Steve Browne took to their own stages to inspire, motivate and share - the rockstars of HR. While I might still be energized (and recovering) from the food (beignets), frien ..read more

Someone asked me on LinkedIn the other day the age-old HR dichotomy: “Is HR’s job to protect the company or the people?” My response? “You protect the company by taking care of the people. When you take care of people, they feel valued, seen, and appreciated. They will take care of your business every time.” My takeaway from #SHRM22? I’m not alone in this belief — we need to take care of our people. I had a healthy dose of skepticism for Sunday’s opening general session with two healthcare insurance ..read more

As I was heading home after #SHRM22, I couldn’t help thinking about what I enjoyed the most. First, as a history lover, specifically U.S. history, it was an immeasurable honor to attend the closing general session to hear from President George W. Bush. Further, given the current divisive political climate, I was immensely proud of the respect shown to the former President by the thousands of my HR colleagues also in attendance. The exchange between SHRM CEO Johnny C. Taylor Jr and George Bush was both entertaining and insightful. The former President ..read more

As part of the SHRM Influencer team, we were asked to kind of do a debrief of our SHRM Annual experience this year. For so many people this was their first live event in over two years. I spoke to so many HR professionals who could not have been more excited to be back in person! It was interesting that there was very little talked about around Covid and the pandemic. I think it’s safe to say, we’ve reached peak exhaustion over this topic. There was a ton of ..read more