On the plane and headed West to San Diego.  One of my favorite places to spend a few days, although there won’t be a lot of down time this week.

Today marks the kick off of the SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition, the largest and most significant gathering of the Human Resources industry.  If you are a progressive HR practitioner or support the practice of ‘people strategy’ its likely you’ll be in San Diego this week (or you are missing out on a great opportunity to connect, listen, learn and develop)!

I believe this is an important time for the practice of HR.  Never has there been a better opportunity for the progressive, strategic HR Practitioner to shine.  In a slow growth cycle where so many industries have become commoditized and are increasingly re-inventing for a better competitive advantage TALENT is moving to the forefront.  Simply stated, The Best Talent Wins and those HR Leaders that embrace the role of Talent Ambassador and Culture Crusader will differentiate themselves and add increasingly more value to the business.

I’ll talk about these trends and the transformation inherent to the practice of HR in my session at 4 pm Monday afternoon:  HR 2.0:  Talent, Technology & Transformation.

And we’ll likely continue the conversation at the SHRM Tweet Up Monday night and the rooftop at the Hard Rock Hotel following!  Join us! Have a feeling a few of my ‘HR Famous’ friends will be there and who knows maybe @mwbuckingham or @algore will stop by…

It should be a great week and from a content perspective SHRM has once again assembled an All Star lineup of keynote speakers including one of my all time personal favorites to close the conference on Wednesday, Marcus Buckingham. Simply stated, SHRM does a conference right.

I look forward to catching up with old friends, making new connections and leaving San Diego a little more knowledgeable about the practice of people.

I am excited to get back on the road this week and spend time with my favorite Association (and client): SHRM…

I head to Madison, WI on Tuesday to deliver my a keynote on winning with corporate culture, Passion on Purpose at the HR NEXT Conference with GMA SHRM. Madison is a great college town and HR Community clearly focused on the evolving trend line in the practice of people. I’ll be followed Tuesday by a keynote from Andrea Gappmayer, speaking on The Carrot Principle who will deliver what I am sure will be a powerful message on leadership effectiveness and the importance of recognition. At an HR event appropriately titled NEXT we’ll both have the opportunity to talk about the current shift in our workplaces and the steps and strategic considerations that are necessary for HR to build more meaning and engagement into the work experience to accelerate performance.

On Thursday I’ll be at the awesome Samoset Resort providing the morning keynote, Employment Branding 2.0, at the Maine State SHRM Conference as part of an outstanding speaker lineup. We’ll spend a little time on the importance and evolution of communication, collaboration, connections and community in our workplace at the appropriately themed event:  If HR Ruled the World.

What if HR Ruled the World? Well, a lofty objective perhaps…although I have some friends that I am sure would agree that the world would be a better place!  While rule the world may be a stretch, it is absolutely time for HR to rule the workplace. TALENT is emerging as the only long term, sustainable competitive advantage in the new economy. There simply has never been a better time for HR to rise to the occasion and significantly impact the strategic considerations and outcomes of the business. Technology, competition, markets and innovation aren’t the ultimate throttle on business growth and success…….it’s people…..the right people….in the right jobs….aligned and delivering on the mission – vision – values and elevating the customer experience that propel a business forward. HR can deliver the talent strategy and workforce readiness that moves the business. Rule the World? Why not….why not now?!

Put your people first…profits follow!

We’ll talk about it all this week and I look forward to being part of the conversation and making new and meaningful connections at these SOLD OUT SHRM events!

And if your SHRM Chapter is looking for relevant professional development and continuing education ask us about our SHRM Discount. Our keynotes and workshops are HRCI STRATEGIC credit approved!

I had the pleasure of attending two very valuable business breakfasts this week.  A Twin Cities HR Leadership Round Table sharing best practices on the evolution of Talent Management and the Twin Cities Social Media breakfast hosted by Partner Up and Deluxe Corporation HQ.  Two very different groups, agendas and turnouts.  And most of the discussion in both meetings was very focused on a common theme:  Communication.

Steve Lewis Recruiting for Partner Up at MSP Social Media Breakfast

In attending my first social media breakfast I was in awe of the turnout and how connections in social media advance much faster when you extend them offline.  Both presentations offered some thoughtful insights  including tips and tools on the evolution of communication, connecting, collaborating, consuming and creating all with a much stronger sense of being part of a new community.

How these transformative tools impact corporations and careers was certainly part of the consideration at the Round Table.  The notion of building communities of talent and leveraging technology to communicate and connect more effectively internally were offered up for discussion.  It was evident through the dialogue that even some of the most highly regarded, progressive organizations in the Twin Cities are just beginning to consider how to approach Talent Management more holistically and strategically with recognition that retaining and engaging the High Potentials/High Performers will be essential to accomplishing key business  goals.

It was obvious to me after attending both breakfast meetings that the quick and aggressive application of new tools and technology will afford more progressive organizations an advantage in their quest to build high engagement work cultures that offer mutliple connection points to our varied communities in the workplace.  And no doubt that will be a heavy focus on the agenda at next week’s Annual SHRM Conference and Exposition.  As 10,000 HR Professionals descend on New Orleans they can look forward to a new conference experience that will include an offical conference blog, a steady twitterstream and of course a variety of pods, videos, media releases, reviews and updates travelling across the web in real time.  I am looking forward to participating in the conversation, being part community and surviving the 105 degree heat in NOLA!

I’ve read that a new blog is created every second.  Why start another?
In a word.  Passion. Not necessarily the personal kind.  But an exploratory journey of the passion that intersects with where we make a living.  Passion at work.

We know it when see it.  An energized workplace.  Authentic leadership.  Open communication.  A culture of consistency, connection, camaraderie and caring. Trust.  Personal growth and development.  Recognition and fun.  Customer loyalty and bottom line business results. The kind of place where everyone wants to work.  Where people come first…and profits follow.

Our premise is passion at work occurs most often when the right person, in the right job is supported through very intentional and strategic action by an organization.  Where leadership is aligned with the mission, vision and values and employees are the ultimate extension of the brand.

Passion happens…on purpose.

And the intent behind our passion project will be to share thoughts, insights and related (most of the time) musings on things closely related to Passion on Purpose. They’ll include recruiting and retention, leadership and employee engagement, training and development, communications and strategy, brand and social media.  And likely include an occasional (or regular) foray into the impact on client acquisition, sales skill and strategy (my own personal passion).

The timing of this blog post is also a bit on purpose, coinciding with the Annual SHRM Conference and Exposition, the largest annual gathering of HR Professionals in the world.

I look forward to heading to New Orleans on Sunday and sharing my thoughts on Employment Branding 2.0 in a mega session Tuesday afternoon.  It’s my contention that there is simply no work more important going on in any organization today than the work our HR community does around getting and keeping the right people (yes, that comes before getting the customer….and they are entirely related).

I hope to shed some light on the evolving nature of Employment Branding, B2E Communications and how best practices can be leveraged to create high engagement work cultures and a sustainable TALENT advantage.

See you in the BIG EASY!