HRevolution and the Wonder That is Social Media

This weekend, I had the honor of meeting 50 friends - for the very first time. Other than HR_Minion, there were 49 other people I had never met before, yet it was like we had known each other for a long time. And in a very real way, we had. From the minute I walked into the hotel on Friday and saw Steve Boese and Joan Ginsberg in the lobby, my Twitter stream starting coming to life.

Many of you get what I am saying - you've experienced it and you know it to be true. Others are shaking your heads. For you I say, stop trying to rationalize it, minimize it or explain it away. Accept it. Embrace it. Seek it out. What is it? It is the wonder that is social media.

Social media connects people and 50 social media connected people converged  on Louisville, Kentucky for HRevolution, the unconference about the future of HR. Who are the fabulous 50? Jessica Miller-Merrill developed this HRevolution Twitter List, check it out! What do we do? We manage HR departments, teams and functions. We own businesses, consult and write. We source, recruit, and retain. We are on-line, off-line and in print. 

The conference discussions were thought provoking and hum of the room was unmistakable. We were in motion, unsettled and inspired. The air was charged with possibility and passion and we are changing the way we do business.  Couldn't make it to the conference? Well, HR Happy Hour is bringing it to you with HR Happy Hour, Episode 18, Live From HRevolution.

Now that the conference is over, that challenge is to continue the conversation in our companies and communities. In my little corner of the world I am going to start by joining Recruiting Blogs, talk or meet with someone new from HRevolution, Twitter, or a blog commenter each week, and SEO optimize my website with the assistance of some yet to be identified SEO savvy person. My kid is my passion and there is a kid-writing-blogging-social media thing for me to do with her that I haven't quite figured out yet so I'll ponder that some.

But first, I unpack and rest up. What are you going to do to change the world today?

Leaders, Who Are You?

Leaders, who are you? 

Who are you, not as a leader but as a person? Where are you in your life, what do you value and how does this impact or inform your leadership? It's not a question of "if" this impacts or informs your leadership, it is a question of "how." Really, it is.

In her post, Be Who You Are, writer Becky Robinson shares her life today and her three beautiful daughters and writes, "As I write about leadership, I bring all of who I am." She writes, "discovering and defining who we are includes understanding and accepting our unique life circumstances, values, preferences, and limitations" and asks, "who are you?"

I am Lisa. Lisa Anne to be exact although my friends call me Lisa Marie. My Twitter bio says I am a wife, mother and HR professional. I have an amazing husband and the absolute-without-a-doubt-twinkle-in-my-eye-smile-on-my-lips-and-pride-in-my-voice is my daughter. I choose to work in HR, but that's not really who I am. It's just my job. 

A good friend commented the other day that she felt outside my "inner circle." I laughed. I don't have an inner circle. I have triangles: me, the husband and the kid; work, school and exercise; cooking (ok, take out), cleaning and homework.

I  traveled a bunch back in the day and stick close to home now, am not aiming for the coveted "top" of any one's organization or list, am defining success my way (definition still in progress), and will stop in my tracks for bagels, tiramisu, and bear claws. I work too much, don't exercise enough and haven't read a book in months. Some days it's sorta pitiful but in the big picture, it's all good.

Oh, and I envy the extrovert. I am an introvert. If there was ever any doubt in my mind (and there wasn't), reading Introverted Leaders: Gifts and Cautions by Mary Jo Asmus, reconfirmed it for me, gifts aside, when she wrote this caution about how introverted leaders. . .  

Can become stressed when they don’t pay attention to their need for time alone: Pay attention to the physical symptoms that indicate that you are draining your energy and not recharging your batteries.  Finding strategies that help you to maintain this balance are important to avoid stress-induced illness. For many introverts, actually scheduling solitary activities or hobbies into their calendar may be helpful.

That about says it all. It's me, it's part of who I am and it's what I bring to the table. No matter how much I wish I was different, I am not. I am the way that I am for good reasons and the reasons continue to show themselves in different ways. Be it a thank you from an unexpected source, inner strength to make (and communicate) a tough decision - compassionately, or a cry for confidence from my little girl - the reasons are there.

So, can you really capture the sum of a person in a few words? Not really, but this is a bit about who I am and what I bring to my family, my friends and my leadership. Who are you?