Technology and Tradition: A Day in the Life Sunday

Sitting in the dentist chair this week, I noticed the technology as the imaging machine came to me and the images were projected on the flat screen beside my chair. That ended as I opened wide, the suction tube was placed and the drill started up.

Really, with all the  technology today, isn't there a way to do this without the grinding of a drill in my mouth. Novocaine protected, I permitted myself the luxury of noting (to myself) how modern day dentistry can seem so 1903.

Why 1903? That's the date on my winter coat. It's a Stormy Kromer. 

I was introduced to the Stormy Kromer brand at the Duluth Pack store as I mocked my husband trying on caps, nice hat 'eh? Warm as they seemed to be, they were so . . . 1903. He was interested looking at the caps and, because this is the guy who weighs bike helmets and hiking boots to be sure he gets only the lightest, I knew we weren't going anywhere quickly.

My eyes <and interest> began to wander and a charcoal gray coat caught my attention. 1903? Nope, not for me. I be a modern girl.

I went up to the hi-tech keep-me-warm brands I love: North Face, Icebreaker and Ibex. I caught a glimpse of that charcoal gray coat on my way back down to the books. Next stop was the Hudson Bay wool blankets and then over to the lip balms.

There was that coat again.

Nope, I told myself, I couldn't even consider it after I made fun of the husband for going all 1903 on me. But I did it anyway. I went over, took it off the rack and tried it on. The fit was flattering, the cut unique and gray a great backdrop for other colors.

Putting my mocking pride aside, I bought it. With the temps on a downward slide and pockets big enough to stash a few hand warmers, I am wearing it with my 2011 red fingerless gloves and hope to add the Pajar Buzz Boots I have my eye on.

At times, I am torn between 2 worlds enjoying what is new with one hand while reaching for the comforts of the past with the other. What do I choose today? A book or a Nook? The Moleskine or Evernote? A Fa La Latte or a cup of tea? Shutterfly or Hallmark? Glossy or letterpress?

Tradition or trail blaze? I find myself at different sides of the equation at different times and that's ok.

While I once wondered if I was being true to whatever the heck I was supposed to being true to, I wonder no more. Mixing the new and the old is good for the soul but please, can we find another way to work on the teeth?

Make an HR Difference

An introvert and a commitment walk into an HR conference . . . .

and make it all the way to lunch when - scanning the swag bags and sensible shoes - I get the cold sweats. Heart starts racing, fight or flight kicks in and I depart the area for the nearest coffee shop wondering, "What the heck?"

It was suffocating.

Hands on the wheel, sun on the face and open road ahead - I drove. It was too much. Too much drinking the same Kool-Aid, accepting the same ideas and morphing into one indistinguishable HR mass.

I can't morph. I won't morph. And you can't make me.

You can come talk with me, but you can't talk with me about HR. Ok, you can talk about HR but not the way you usually talk about HR. Don't talk with me about FMLA, benefit programs, award calculations or market based-compensation.

Talk with me about reenergizing a wall-flower incentive awards program, linking everything workforce development to the strategic plan or responding to changes in leadership styles. Talk with me about LPN to RN upward mobility and whether tuition programs are a benefit of employment, a talent management tool with expectations or something completely else.

Talk dirty to me <no, not that kind of dirty - remember the brand> but the kind of dirty that really messes with the HR status quo.

Talk with me about relationships. Talk with me about how we are not in the HR business but how we are in the relationship business.

Listen to me when I tell you that my job satisfaction, my view of HR as a profession or my assessment of my own abilities can be so utterly dependent on the state of my relationships at the time. My boss has my back and I am unstoppable. Leaders (union included) question my motives and I am temporarily stalled.

Relationship is how work really gets done. And credibility is the key that unlocks the door, the coin of the realm, the thing that makes this whole thing work.

If I were to hop onto the stage to talk about credibility, would you come and listen to me?

An introvert and a commitment walk into a conference . . . and walk out with purpose and direction.

Photo credit iStockphoto