9-11-2001 | Never Forget

10 years ago I woke up at the U.S. Air Force Academy like any other day.  After marching to breakfast, I headed back to my room where I watched with horror the television coverage after the first plane hit the first tower.  As we all know, that was only the beginning of what was one of the darkest days in our Nation’s history.

It was an interesting place to be during that time – a lot of things changed instantly – just 9 months from graduation and now we were facing the reality that we would be commissioned into a military that was going to be at war.

Today, I took in some of the coverage, blog posts, and many twitter and Facebook status updates, but mostly I enjoyed the opening weekend of the NFL season.  I was resolved that I wouldn’t write a post today – that I wasn’t “close enough” to New York on that awful day, and that I wasn’t as personally impacted as many others were.

But then, I saw this video that aired today during the Eagles-Rams NFL game.  It was done by Spike Lee as a tribute to the New York Fire Department to help honor the victims and heroes of Sept. 11.  It’s pretty awesome, and the lyrics for this Jay-Z song, “Empire State of Mind”, are quite telling of the resiliency and resolve of New York City after that fateful day 10 years ago…  Never Forgotten, Forever Grateful.

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York!
These streets will make you feel brand new,
The lights will inspire you,
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York.

9-11-2001, Never Forget is a post from: HR Think Tank

I haven’t blogged in 220 days, but I haven’t been idle either.  Far from it.  What has been going on you might ask?  For one, this happened!  (More on that later)

Here are 10 things I have been up to since this Word of Mouth Marketing post on January 8, 2011:

1. My first big project at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center went live.  It was a custom developed Time & Labor implementation and was a big win for BIDMC and SEI.
2. I transitioned from an HR Project Management Consulting role to the role of Test Manager on a large-scale, integrated Lab Information System for the hospital.  The transition from HR to the Clinical side has been as rewarding as it has been challenging.  And it has been very challenging.
3. I took a hiatus from blogging.  220 days.  I started to find myself staring at draft posts in WordPress, seemingly without words.  This lack of words was my mind telling me that I was lacking focus.  I don’t expect blogging to be easy, but I do expect to feel passionate about communicating a message, and if that isn’t there, I’m not going to fake it.
4. During that time, I began dreaming up a new concept for my ‘social landing page’ (Blog, resume, experience, non-profit advocacy work, and everything in between), called davisory.com.  It’s a play on what I do (Business and technology consulting – Advisory services), and my name.  Yeah I know, it’s not ingenious, but it let’s me have more range to talk beyond the boundaries of HR Technology.  I really enjoy HR, and I know I will work on many more HR projects, but I also know it’s not all I can do, nor is it all I will be doing, so www.hrthinktank.net is feeling very restrictive.
5. I fell off my bike.  My first real crash, going 20+ mph.  Spent a little time at the doctors, and a little more time recovering, but I got right back in the saddle.
6. I got married on July 4.  It was the best day of my life and we couldn’t be happier.  I’m excited for everything that life holds for us.  (To see the video, click the link, then look for July04 Andrea and Jason in the right column)
7. I went to Hawaii.  I sailed around the Napali coast in a 65-foot catamaran.  I watched the sun rise above the clouds and then biked down the Haleakala Crater on Maui.  I ate, drank, and laughed, and had an amazing honeymoon with my beautiful new wife.
8. I hit my 4 year anniversary at SEI-Boston, LLC.  SEI was recognized by the Cincinnati Enquirer as the #1 Best Workplace: Small Companies in their 2011 report.  We’re now 30 consultants strong in Boston, up from 5 when I started four years ago.  It’s a great company, and we’re hiring.
9. I rode in my 3′rd Pan-Mass Challenge, only this time I rode from the New York border.  3 days, 300 miles, all in the spirit of fighting cancer and pedaling for a cure.  Like my previous two PMCs, it was an amazing experience, and I couldn’t be prouder to be involved.  Want to help the cause?  I sure could use your help and would love you as part of our community.
10. I sat on my couch, for 3 hours, and thought about all of the big things I did in the past 220 Days.  I reflected on a busy 7 months.  I’m excited about the next 7.

Thanks for reading.  Hope you are all doing well.

-Jason

220 Days. is a post from: HR Think Tank

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I hope you have a great day full of family, friends, football, and food.  It’s been a great year and we have a lot to be thankful for.

That is my Dad and my awesome nephew Cayden.  Dad’s shirt says “This is what a cool dad looks like”.  I would have to agree.  If you have ever met him you would agree too.  Given it’s Thanksgiving, and also that it was my father’s birthday in November I thought, hey, I should do a lessons from Dad post.  Boom. Done.  This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for these awesome lessons from my dad.

1. Sleep when you are dead.

My Dad owns this phrase.  A lot of my friends immediately say this when my Dad comes up in conversation.  He would say it whenever he wanted us to go on some crazy trip last minute.  My favorite was in the Summer of 1999.  I was on my summer break from the US Air Force Academy and hanging out in the backyard with friends.  Dad came out and said “I am leaving for Woodstock in 15 minutes, who is coming with me?”  About ten college kids standing around and only two takers.  We drove to Rome, NY and had a great time at Woodstock 99 – Rusted Root, Jewel, Our Lady Peace, Chili Peppers.  Loads of great bands and good times on less than an hour notice.  Lessons here are endless – Be spontaneous.  Life your life.  Have fun.  Don’t wait until tomorrow to do something you could do today.

2. Show Up; 2a. Do what you said you would do

Half of the battle is showing up.  Commit to attending an event and thinking about blowing it off?  Don’t.  Have a little too much fun and thinking about calling in sick?  Don’t.  My dad taught me that it was important to be reliable.  If you say you are going to do something – Do it.  This is obviously important in both your personal and your professional life.  If you consistently show up and do what you commit to… if you are reliable… you put yourself in the position to be a go-to friend, or the go-to resource in the workplace, and that is gold.  So show up.  And Do what you said you would do.  Every time.

3. Behind every great project manager is at least one exceptional technical resource who they have not pissed off yet.

My Dad is a problem solver.  He’s a technologist at heart that fixes tough technical problems.  I am a project manager slash business development type.  I know enough to know when there is a problem, but I usually have to convince someone else to fix it (hey, that is harder than it sounds!).  Dad ribs me quite a bit on this point -  “I want to DO the work”.  “I fix things.  You just plan things.”  While  knowing your role, learning the art of escalation, and managing scope are all important, I learned perhaps the number one rule of thumb for any successful PM from my father before I was even a PM: Behind every great project manager (or business sponsor for that matter), is at least one exceptional technology resource who they have not pissed off yet.  Take it to the bank.  You lose your tech team, you’re done.

This list could be way longer, like be nice to your mom (and make sure everyone else is too).  I also know by now that he brought me into this world, and that he can take me out of it, and that even though he taught me everything I know, he didn’t teach me everything he knows.  I’m looking forward to learning the rest of it, because I have a Dad that I like to hang out with. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving, I’m Thankful For… Lessons From Dad is a post from: HR Think Tank

Ahhhh, so true.  So true.  Well played Scott Adams.

Dilbert: Beth the New Marketing Manager for Social Media is a post from: HR Think Tank

Yeah I know, this is a blog about business, social media, and getting things done.  Awe inspiring posts (okay, that might be a little optimistic!) about the value of relationship marketing, being in the conversation, and solving tough problems for clients.  So why I am cross-posting about the PMC and a rider raising money to arm the Dana Farber Cancer Institute with the funds it needs to battle cancer?

Because I am a believer in causes that transcend ‘typical’ business relationships.  The PMC is my cause.  It’s motivates me to continue to do more.  I think the PMC is critically important, and people like Pete Getchell are the ones that make it happen.

When I reached out to Meghan M. Biro of TalentCulture about joining as a sponsor for cyclingagainstcancer.com in support of my 2010 PMC, I didn’t even have to ask twice.  And it wasn’t because there was a big business deal hanging out there as a carrot for her sponsorship.  I think she sponsored because she believes in rallying a community behind a cause, and I thank her for that!

Similarly, my coworkers and friends at SEI have been very supportive.  I asked my CEO, Dan Pierce, for a donation, and he supported without question.  The firm also has a generous gift matching program for charitable contributions.  It makes me even more proud to be working for the company.

I have been incredibly busy this summer.  I’m riding 80-120 miles a week, supporting client work, and moonlighting in support of internal SEI operations like interviewing, and looking for new business and partners.  HR Think Tank has taken a bit of a back burner, but it’s still important to me, and I thank you all for sticking with me.

I hope that you will check out my charity blog, cyclingagainstcancer.com, and read about Pete Getchell.  I’ll be featuring more riders and stories in the next few weeks as we steam towards the 2010 PMC (August 7th and 8th).

Want to support my cause?  I could certainly use your help.  Retweet this post, send people to cyclingagainstcancer.com, and if you are so inclined, donate here.

2010 PMC and Rider Spotlight: Pete Getchell is a post from: HR Think Tank

The power of social media is not rocket science – it provides a channel to increase connections and enhance communications by exponentially expanding your reach.  What you do with those connections and your now boundary-less network is up to you – no tool will convince people to buy your services, be your friend, or connect you or your company to clients, consumers, or partners.

However, I believe that if you focus on engaging your community, listening, and adding value where possible, you will find that social media will open doors that you didn’t even know were there before.

My new charity website, cyclingagainstcancer.com, launched yesterday, and it would have never happened the way it did without my community that I have built through my social media presence.  It went a little something like this…

In November 2009, I was reading more and more about the power of Twitter.  I started to think that I was missing a big opportunity to engage with thought leaders in my industry, as well as potential clients and business partners.  I quickly discovered that I was right.  I had already known that my strategy was also to develop a blog – that I had ideas and discussion that wouldn’t fit in 140-character tweets – and conceptually I had developed the idea of HR Think Tank.  Problem is, I knew nothing about developing a blog.  I didn’t know what WordPress was.  Or the Thesis theme, Google XML Sitemaps, or Feedburner.  Enter Michael Long.  Despite the fact that we barely knew each other, Michael stepped up and got me going.  This site wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Michael, and he was in on the call talking conceptually about cyclingagainstcancer.com as well.  He’s a great guy, and there’s a reason he has 17,000+ followers on Twitter – he’s smart, adds value, and he’ll help you out when you need it.

Right around that same time, I attended the #socialrecruiting summit in New York City.  When I committed to increasing my social media footprint, I promised myself I wouldn’t just engage online – where appropriate, I would take the opportunity to meet in person.  That, combined with SEI investigating an increased business presence (both recruiting and otherwise) on various social media platforms, brought me to the Social Recruiting Summit.  It was there that I first started talking to Laurie Ruettimann and Sarah White.  Both are respected thought leaders in the HR and recruitment space, and I am glad I know them.  Increased awareness of both this blog, and of cyclingagainstcancer.com can be attributed to Laurie, who featured me on her Sunday HR Shout Out, and Sarah has continuously gone above and beyond, with one of the many things being the purchase and subsequent donation of a design day from the idesignyourlogo.com team for our logo design.  Speaking of idesignyourlogo.com, they are some great guys – not only do they design some amazing logos, but they also raised money for my PMC, effectively donating over 7 times the cost of the logo in the first place.

With the logo in hand, cyclingagainstcancer.com started to become a reality.  It was then that Veronica Ludwig stepped up huge.  Like with Michael, I had hardly engaged Veronica before she offered to help with design and hosting of the new site.  Lucky for me, she is a great person with a soft-spot for philanthropic efforts and social media.  When Veronica got busy, I turned to Matt Chevy, who blogs over at Life Without Pants, to put my mental concept of the site into a design.  Matt was flexible with our partnership, and was a truly engaging consultant.  His portfolio of work is impressive, and I am happy that I chose him to put my thoughts online to help build the cyclingagainstcancer.com community.

Last but not least, there’s Meghan M. Biro.  I think every one of my readers knows Meghan.  It’s hard not to – she’s engaging, personable, and the founder of TalentCulture, a social community focused on building a culture of innovation, awareness, creativity, and understanding.  That’s what we’re trying to do as well, but around the PMC and cancer advocacy.  Despite being spread thin across a number of other commitments, Meghan stepped up as our first corporate sponsor for cyclingagainstcancer.  It’s very much appreciated.

I’m sure I forgot a host of others, and I am positive there will be many more to add to this list.  Being successful in social media and in business is about the give, more than the take, and as I read back through this post and think about the last 6 months, I find it hard to believe that I have given back half of what I have received from this great community.  I’ll keep trying, and together, we will keep on moving the ball forward.  Thanks for your continued support, and please know that you will always have mine!

Leveraging Social Media Where It Counts: Charity is a post from: HR Think Tank

A few Friday’s ago I spoke candidly about what I thought about Casual Fridays, and the message was pretty clear: The dress for your company should be driven by your culture, and your culture should be aligned with your business.  When companies recruit and hire good, smart candidates that are a fit for their culture – they should know how to police their own wardrobe to represent the company.

With that being said, if your company does have a loose Casual Friday policy, or if you work somewhere where you can wear whatever the hell you want, check out some of your selections below, with my reviews.  Alternatively, you can rock these at the bar on Friday night.  Do it, and take a picture, and I’ll start a whole new page on my site dedicated to people in Geeky T-Shirts all over the world!

T-Shirt #1 – Social Media Venn Diagram

Geeky in their own right, Venn Diagrams are show logical relations between a group of things.  The guy in this photo alone cracks me up – dude, haircut – ASAP. But anyway, how true is this geeky T-Shirt?  It shows the relationship between Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter to Narcissism, ADHD, and Stalking.  If you missed my post on Foursquare last week, I laid out the undeniable fact that “Stalkers everywhere are rejoicing and high-fiving each other at the sheer joy of Foursquare!”

This T-Shirt is available at Despair, Inc’s website.  Get it.  Love it.  Take pictures.

Tweeter most likely to have this geeky shirt: Chris Hoyt

T-Shirt #2 – Peace – Love – Human Resources

Peace.  Love. Human Resources – Makes you want to just hug it out eh?  It also symbolizes everything that is wrong with HR.  Not too long ago, Sarah White did a post on her blog about candidates being way too nice.  This goes for the HR pros out there as well.  We get it – some of you have to deal with employee relations and other touchy feely employment issues.  For the rest of you, focus on applying Chris Ferdinandi‘s Renegade HR philosophy to Human Resources: Recruit great people, and help them do amazing things that drive your business. 

If you are in human resources, don’t be afraid to mix it up, especially if you are in a systems role – projects don’t manage themselves.  It’s not always about Peace and Love.  It’s about getting the right people.  Delivery.  Protecting the door.  Being overly protective of your company’s brand and culture.  In the meantime, buy this geeky shirt anyway from Cafe Press – also available in pink and neon green – and don’t forget to take pictures.

Tweeter most likely to have this geeky shirt: Laurie Ruettimann

T-Shirt #3 – Darth Vader’s “I Want You for the Dark Side”

Are you a recruiter?  Star Wars fan?  You get the best of both worlds here with the Vader “I Want YOU For The Dark Side” recruiting T-shirt!

That is a great idea for a blog post by the way – talking about the parallel’s between Star Wars and Recruiting passive candidates.  Maybe the HR Capitalist could make that happen.

As of this posting, this product is ‘currently unavailable’ from the Star Wars Shop.  I’m assuming this is because the Twitter recruiter circle has bought them up already.  You know who you are.

Tweeter most likely to have this geeky shirt: Geoff Webb

T-Shirt #4 – Corn On The Job

Blogger Rich DeMatteo has taken the geeky t-shirt to a whole new level with his Corn Heads Community on his blog.  If you read Rich’s stuff, you know that he has a diverse following made up of HR/Recruiting folks, job seekers, vendors, professional resume writers, and students who will soon be entering the work force.  He plans to bring these people together by granting them Corn Head status.  That’s right – get a t-shirt with this fancy logo on the front, take a picture, and wallah – you are a… Corn Head.

Who would do that right?  Lots of people.  Check out the early adopters on his Corn Head page.  Don’t laugh, yours will be there soon enough.

Tweeter most likely to have this geeky shirt: James Oley, Samantha Karol, Sarah White, Samantha Ogborn, and tons of others.  It’s like a cult!

Have a favorite t-shirt that didn’t make the list?  Already have one of these?  Planning to invest in one of these shirts for your high school reunion?  Don’t be shy, let us hear it in the comments section.

#FunFriday – The Best of HR & Social Media Geeky T-Shirts is a post from: HR Think Tank

There is one absolutely indisputable fact about social media – It brings the #GEEK out.  Early adopters, for the most part, will try anything – and trust me, it’s a slippery slope.  One day you are setting up a fancy RSS Reader and the next thing you know….. FARMVILLE!  Nothing like missing out on actual experiences and opportunities to plant some fake crops and raise some computer chickens.  Or perhaps Mafia Wars is more your style – as the video says – what else are you supposed to do while your crops are growing?  But at least these don’t pretend to be useful Social Networking tools.  The latest is the fascination with Foursquare, especially with the recent Blackberry app release.  As a disclaimer, I am on Foursquare, and I am so geeky, I was part of the 5000 person beta release!  But lets be real here, is there any true business value to this tool?  I’m not buying it.  Furthermore, while you are out unlocking your badge and securing your mayorship at the local donut shop, your employees just might be laughing at your twittersream of geolocational goodies.

Bosses and business professionals aren’t the only ones that should think about potential implications of broadcasting their every move around the city.  I would be even less hesitant to use Foursquare if I were a girl.  Yes, I know you pick your friends on Foursquare.  But, after Thursday happy hour you might think it’s a great idea to share with your 6,000 best friends on Twitter that you are at so and so bar or restaurant and realistically you have no idea where that tweet ends up.  Stalkers everywhere are rejoicing and high-fiving each other at the sheer joy of Foursquare!

So, for now, I’ll probably still use it.  I can’t help it, it tugs at that competitive spirit in me (even if I did feel a little guilty for unlocking the “Bender” badge).  But, I no longer have any illusions about the usefulness of Foursquare from a business perspective.  It’s just another way for your followers to know when you are hanging out in Starbucks planting some fake plants and becoming a made-man.

Agree? Disagree?  I would love to hear your thoughts, and what do you think the next application will be that becomes a 3 month trending topic on twitter?

Post Update, 1/24/10 – After thinking about it some more this weekend, I decided to delete my Foursquare account.  Bye-bye Foursquare!

#FunFriday – Social Media Brings the #Geek Out is a post from: HR Think Tank

I have never been great at predicting the future.  So instead of jumping on the bandwagon with a 2010 predictions post, I thought I’d talk about some things from 2009 that can stay in 2009!  Yes, all of these things suck, and I have no use for them.  On we go….

1. H1N1 – or #hellokittyflu, as @ImSoSarah so affectionately calls it.  Seriously, this thing makes you sicker than a college freshman after a nice mix of everclear and purple kool-aid.  I know it took down @SteveBoese, @punkrockhr, @ImSoSarah, @TheRecruiterGuy, and hundreds of thousands of other people.  I hope the Swine goes away in 2010, it officially sucks.

2. Parents made Infamous by Bad TV – Balloon Boy’s parents, Octomom, and both Jon and Kate Gosselin win my award for the parents who should have been more analytical in making decisions about conceiving children.  This should be fair warning to anyone out there thinking about having 8 kids – you will likely end up crazy, on TMZ, and with people making fun of you.  And to Balloon Boys parents, the fact that you actually built some odd, storm chasing balloon is weird enough – you didn’t need to bring your kid in on the act.  Parenting #FAIL.  Unfortunately, I suspect we will get a whole new set of bad parents to make fun of in 2010.

3. The 2009 suite of business buzz words and management pontification – Don’t get me wrong, I love ‘touching base’ and ‘synthesizing’ our ideas so that we don’t have ‘data flapping around all over the place’.  I understand that we need ‘All hands on deck’ for a “24 x 7″ effort to get our project live.  In 2010, let’s get back to real communication and take this stuff out of meetings and presentation.  Why?  Because it gives people something to latch on to when they don’t agree with you.  It can damage your credibility.  And it sucks.  (Anxiously awaiting the new buzz in 2010 – you all know it’s coming!)

4. Tiger Drama – I realize this is exciting news.  Non-human like golf phenom shows human side by securing nearly 1 girl per state, to include Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.  Okay, exaggeration yes, but I have lost count on amount of women involved here.  Did it matter after say…. 5?  Tiger is a golfer, not a president.  Ha, bad joke.  Anyway, Tiger drama can stay in 2009 – I’m sick of hearing about it.  But this video – very funny.  This can stay. Huge. Quickly.

(disclaimer: don’t open the Tiger Woods video if you are easily offended… which I, clearly, am not)

What things from 2009 do you want to stay in 2009?  Let’s hear them in the comments!

(Picture Credit: Brisbane Times)

#FunFriday – Sh*t That Can Stay in 2009 is a post from: HR Think Tank