The past few years have brought many blessings – new city, new job, Husband and daughter. A blessing this month was the opportunity to come join the social media team at SHRM, thanks to Curtis Midkiff for the pass and to Rackspace (my employer) for promoting my ongoing development! I’ve never been to a National SHRM event … or to Las Vegas. So, this week is sure to fulfill both the little kid and HR Nerd in me!
Sitting in the exhibit hall waiting for the opening session to begin, watching a seemingly endless stream of people flowing through the doors kicked my HR energy into high gear. That inner nerd already feels connected with all of them. 14,000 HR professionals are here today with over 1,000 international attendees!
After an introduction number from the Viva Elvis crew (awesome!), the event kicked off with the announcement of Hank Jackson as the new SHRM CEO. After a few words from him, Richard Branson took the stage.
I’ve been looking forward to this opening keynote since I found out I was going to attend. Branson, CEO of everything Virgin, is a well-respected business and thought leader, filled with passion and the unique ability to take risk and seize opportunity.
There were a number of good sound bites that resonated with the crowd throughout his session … and a few that really struck home with me.
1)- “A bad CEO or Manager can destroy the whole spirit of a company incredibly quickly. HR needs to push them out the door.”
Culture is such an important thing to protect in an organization. It only takes one person to begin to infect and destroy what unites and makes you unique. It’s the responsibility not just of HR, but of every leader to protect that culture. Michael recently bought the book The No Asshole Rule, and it surrounds that very idea. Asshole’s suck the life and energy out of an organization. Let’s get better at kicking them out … and keeping them out!
2)- “My Mother made me stand on my own two feet – even at a young age. She would throw me on a bicycle and tell me to bike 14 miles.”
One of the things that Branson believed his Mother instilled in him that led to his success was indeependence and doing it himself. Maybe he didn’t always like it. Maybe he wanted to be watching TV instead of doing chores … but looking back it instilled his work ethic and attitude. As a parent, this especially struck home.
3)- My favorite part of the session was a question about hiring at Virgin. Right off the bat, he answered, “We believe in promoting from within. We don’t need the so-called experts from the outside. Think outside the box. Don’t think of the switchboard operator as always being the switchboard operator. Don’t think of the cleaning lady as always being the cleaning lady.”
Too many times, growing organizations think they need to bring in outside “experts” to take them where they want to be. It is refreshing to see such true dedication to the idea of internal promotions. If you are hiring and developing your employees the right way, this becomes an easy and natural cycle.
Stop putting your employees in boxes.
There are so many great sessions to attend this week, I’ve got my calendar ready to keep both myself and Michael on track. 
Let me know if there is anything you’re interested in hearing about and we’ll make it happen!
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