Being “in” meant more than just buying a ticket.  HRevolution represents a movement, a transition that is taking place inside of our profession.  The HRevolution experience is a democratic one in that it is by the people, for the people.  But it’s also only as good as the people decide to make it through their participation and commitment to it. 

When I left HRevolution 2010, I knew that I had been a part of something really amazing.  But, I also left with a feeling that we hadn’t gone far enough and that there was still so much to do.  Thankfully, that sense of unfinished business prompted me to come back home and undertake the creation of The HR Reinvention Experiment, but that’s a post for another day.  HRevolution 2010 left me feeling that there wasn’t enough discussion about where our gaps where in HR and what WE were going to do about it after we left.  This feeling never left me, so when HRevolution 2011 rolled around, I knew that I needed to try to be at least part of the solution for this year’s event.  

As I pondered what to pitch to the HRevolution 2011 committee for consideration through the request for presentations process, I wanted to do something really cool and perhaps unexpected.  So, I shot a note off to Steve Browne to see if he would be interested in potentially leading a session with me at the event. This may not seem like an idea that is all that radical until you consider that Steve and I had never met.  At the point that I sent the email to him, we’d had about 30 minutes of conversation on the phone to get acquainted, but that was it.  

Here’s what I knew about Steve:

• He ran HR for a pizza company in Ohio
• He had a ton of passion for HR
• He was investing a lot of his own time in growing the profession through HRNet, his HR Roundtable, and through extensive involvement in the state SHRM organization in Ohio.  He walks the talk.  
• He seemed like a guy who likes to mix it up a little bit.  
• He seemed intrigued by me, an HR executive at a bank who calls himself a Talent Anarchist.  

If HR is so bad, what are you DOING about it?  

This is the title of our session at this year’s event.  Steve and I share in common a passion for HR.  We also share in common a belief that HR can only live up to its calling if HR leaders from across the world step up their game and make it their responsibility to lead this charge.  We must BE the solution.  

We aren’t naive enough to think that our session is going to change the world over night, but we hope that through this conversation, that we may throw a few sparks.  And that these sparks may light a few fires. We hope that our session will reveal to those who join us that we are all struggling with the same issues and that we must move beyond thinking and writing about our issues and instead start taking definitive action to become a part of the solution.  

Since HRevolution is a democratic process and it is dependent on those who attend to co-create the experience, it seems perfectly reasonable that we start the conversation before we ever get to Atlanta.  To this end, Steve and I have decided to start some conversation back and forth between my blog and his blog.  We hope you will join in the conversation and add your thoughts and questions.  In this way, we can start the discussion ahead of time and hit Atlanta having already done some work collectively as a community.  

• Why is it that you agreed to do a session at HRevolution with a guy you’ve never met?
• What are you hoping we can accomplish in our short session?
• Most importantly, why do you invest so much of your time trying to impact HR pros?