I felt I had been here before. Image a large room full of marketing types and business leaders, all wearing name tags and juggling coffee and folios and talking about how great they were doing. It was the new incarnation of the Business Rally, and I was happy to be back in a room of artificially happy people. The smiles were nice, even if they were forced.
Ron Brumbarger, CEO of Bitwise, had pulled this together, and was happy with the turnout. I was happy for a free cup of coffee and getting some energy from a room of marketing types. I think everyone needs a dose of happiness every now and then, even if it is partially artificial. The rules on the invitation were clear – this was not a job search event, so if you were looking for work, look elsewhere. That also meant that the requests for 20 minute networking meetings were eliminated.
What was different and refreshing was the presence of several key Human Resources professionals, and how they might have the answer to the turnaround. Yes, there were bankers in one corner talking about cash flow and operations types in another corner talking about new tracking systems. The surprise was a pair of HR experts, and the answers that they had for american industry.
Chuck and Chris make it simple for us
Chris Woolard, whom you may already know, is a national expert on employee engagement at Walker Information. Chuck Gillespie, ex-senior HR person at a local logistics company, is now leading the charge at Peoplebase, with a new take on HRIS systems. Between the two of them, an organization could make sure that their high performers were fully engaged, and then use that knowledge to produce a better outcome.
It just made me feel proud that, here at ground zero of the business turnaround, that HR was at the table along with the money and the operations.
It also made me proud that people clearly knew who they were. All of that work that HR has done to be taken seriously is starting to pay off…
The coffee was brewing, the suits were talking, and HR was in the room. This was good.
Karl Ahlrichs' Uncommon Experience 
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