#HRTechConf & #HRTechEurope: 68th Birthday Resolutions

Birthday Girl!

As I get ready to host Brazen Hussies events, speak at and attend the 2013 HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas and the (not related) European HR Technology Conference in Amsterdam, I’ve got some surprises up my sleeves, to include announcing my latest professional resolutions.  There’s nothing more motivating when you really want to keep resolutions than announcing them to a few thousand colleagues, many of whom will tweet/blog/chat/generally call out your accomplishments or lack thereof.   Since I plan to report just before the 2014 conferences about how well (or not) I’ve done with my 68th Bday professional resolutions,  I thought I’d build momentum for their accomplishment by committing to them publicly — right here and now:

1.  Spend as much time as possible, online and IRL, with the Enterprise Irregulars — when I was honored with membership in this group in 2009, little did I realize at the time what a powerfully smart, knowledgeable and generous group I would be joining.  I’ve learned a ton from the @irregulars this past four years, so much so that at times my aging brain goes into overload.  We’ve celebrated each other’s triumphs and tribulations, dissected each other’s thinking (and I do mean dissected),and plotted how to improve enterprise organizational performance through best practices in all things tech.  But I’ve never been more proud of this group or honored by my membership in it than in how they rallied to support my decision to wind down my consulting practice.

2.  Blog more often — I had such good intentions when I began my blog 11/8/2009, but life has truly gotten in the way quite a bit over these four years.  Since I can’t even consider retirement until I’ve said everthing I have to say about HRM, the HRM delivery system, HRM software and vendors, HRM outsourcing and providers, and many more professional topics of interest, I’ve just got to do a better job in 2014 of finding time and focus to blog.

3.  Travel less on business — business travel, no matter how productively you use your time on the road, is a giant time waster, good eating habit destroyer, and exercise routine disruptor.  After more than forty years on the road, I know the price paid by family and friends who don’t see you enough, community needs that you can’t meet, wardrobes that never get replenished except in crisis mode, and household responsibilities that get only barebones attention.  While I love seeing clients, vendors, conference attendees in situ, and speaking face-to-face with as many in our profession as possible, I think it’s time to open up the conference room at Casa de Ranas for more such meetings and encourage everyone to consider southwest Florida as a choice locale for their conferences/meetings/etc.

4.  Go deeper and push harder in support of HRM SaaS InFullBloom — I’ll write more about the sea change that’s picking up steam every month in HRM software, but what’s important about what’s happening is that, unless we educate everyone involved about the importance of great HRM SaaS (as opposed to old data/process design and architectural crap dressed up in new clothes, as happened all too often as we went from mainframe to client server HRM software), the opportunity of this moment will be lost.  HR professionals must drive business outcomes by distinguishing between pretty UIs and profoundly important technology enablement to better HRM decisions by managers and workers.  And HRM software professionals must know how and when to reinvent themselves and the software they create and support.

5.  Take better care of myself — last but by no means least, this is truly the most important resolution.  Now this might see an odd entry on a professional resolutions list, but there’s no way to get this far without a few scars, without a little slowing down of the machinery.  Every time I read about colleagues doing triathlons or similar forced death marches, I cringe.  But I also envy their energy and accomplishments.  Swimming is my favorite exercise, and I used to be quite a good open water long distance swimmer.  Now it’s laps in the pool, not just for the exercise but also because it’s where I do some of my best thinking.  I don’t think I can get any taller, but I’m hoping that with more time to take better care of myself, I’ll improve my overall health.

Wow, just writing up those five resolutions was exhausting, so imagine what actually accomplishing them is going to take!  Back to 2014 vacation planning, because I’m going to need them.  And in case you were wondering, your gifts are due by September 24th.