DISQUS

I think that this is a really good lesson for those of us who aspire to transending being good HR managers and moving on to be true HR executives.

As I write this, my PC clock says it's 1:24. obviously that is wrong. It should say 36 minutes to summer.

We are closing at 2 p.m. today. A colleague and I talked about it earlier as such a benefit. It makes everyone feel like a grown up. Trusted to get the work of the day and the week and the quarter done but also the work of summer.

Great post.

I think this is a great recommendation. It may be on my Kindle tonight!

Go with your gut. Know what you know... HR.

"One man with courage is a majority"
Thomas Jefferson

Thanks for the word Frank! Love the connection.

There are two decisions that someone can make about your employment - both decisions are market-type actions.

First one is - should you be in the job or is there a better alternative in the labor market. If you are not adding value (on a net-after compensation basis) worry about how to become more valuable for the problems the organization faces today.

Second one is different - regardless of who is in the role, "Is this job really needed?" Know whether or not the role you are in makes a contribution to what is important for your organization today. One strategy if it isn't... find something that is, that you can do and suggest that your original position go the way of all things. People love self-starters who can see the forest for the trees and think of the group first.

Your job security is about your level of competitiveness in a market. The organization has plenty of places to invest scarce resources. Make sure that you understand the market for internal investment.

One of the things that I have seen is a shift in the compensation markets for HR talent. Several years ago, I am pretty sure that the big money was in consulting (HR with a P&L). As companies became much more focused on the power of being a superior competitor in talent markets, they assigned a higher value on HR. Then, they paid more; more than the consultants.

Business people know about risk and reward. And... they will go where the money is - (Willie Sutton does HR).

We will get more business people, as, and we are, paying people like business people.

Both are important and need to be rewarded.

Where are you in the business cycle? Early entrants or innovators have to pay top dollar for the best ideas. As companies unfold, crisp execution need more of a relative focus.

One thought is pay the idea folks in equity or something like equity for the long haul. Pay executors in the short to medium haul (make sure that the execution is sticky before you pay for all of it.)

If an idea person is not willing to let some of their compensation stake ride on the long-term execution of the idea - don't pay'em or don't pay'em much. However, if they are (even if they will not be with you at the time of fruition), give them a reason to bring you their best thought first.

Finally, know the market place. Ideas worth paying for should be value in the conditions to come, not the ones you just lived through.

Know your business model and your place in it's development cycle above all.

... so there.

Thanks for the reference Frank. I appreciate it.

Q.E.D.

Powerful words. Thanks.

Small words that make sense at the kitchen table.

I traded a rookie human capital for a world series year Mike Schmidt and a Nolan Ryan.

One of the beautiful outcomes of your advice is that your work is more authentic. People like authentic. Authentic is also much, much easier to present.

Resume rhymes with "go away".

Get post on multiple levels. Everyone who is in a position to make a great deal knows the stars in their world or at least recognizes a rising star when one emerges.

Where did you get the picture of Eliot Spitzer?

Your stuff is great. Partnership with iFractal is a great enhancement as well. I use them professionally and think extremely highly of them all.

Bill

Agree that this is all good but just to be clear Comcast is NOT short on cash. Even in missing the street's expecations the company still produced Free Cash Flow (not made up earning numbers - real cash) of $2.3 Billion!

This is a story of the right people doing the right things even if they didn't have to!

Nothing more can be added to Steve's comments plus the original post.

BTW - Frank and his firm iFractal are the house communications for me and my company.

Great advice. Two thoughts from me.

This reminds me of one of my two or three favorite quotes. It is from the Buddha. A common command of course, especially from parents and managers is "don't just stand there, DO something!" The Buddha teaches - "don't just do something, stand there."

Second thought is a time when I took the advice of Frank and Buddha. We put out some communication about benefits and pay, intended to hit an hourly workforce and use some humor. The materials included the line, "[N]obody says, 'got to use my disability beneift - YEAH!'" The point was that everybody likes more pay, but we don't always "like" the value in our benefits.

After printing 90,000 copies of this thing, the president of the company asked me at a meeting of our "executive committee" about the piece, he picked it up and happened upon the "diability" line. He slowly looked up and asked me, non-rhetorically, if I was crazy. My only response was to ask him if he thought he would: 1. read the next line and 2. ever forget this benefit statement among the many that he had read. The only additional response on my part was silence.

That was this past fall. As of Friday, I still had a job there.

After I read this I went and took a long hard look in the mirror. I felt really bad.

I kept thinking how hideous that poor bastard must be that came in second when I got hired. He's probably working in a side show even as we speak.

works for me.

This made me laugh out loud. Thanks KHR! Also, much like PFP there are many who claim it is a myth and not real. As an HR guy and a Comp guy both, I can assure you - yes Virginia, there is pay for performance.