Archive for January, 2010
The Independent Princess
I recently cleaned out my basement storage room. I have lived in my house for over 5 years, and most of the boxes in that room had never been unpacked from the move. So there was some fun to this particular chore, because I had the opportunity to look at pictures and things I had not seen in a long time. One of the things that I found was a printed copy of an old email from a listserv that I belonged to. (Yes, some of us are old and have been around computers for a long time.) After you read what that email contained, I am sure you will understand why I kept it:
The Independent Princess
Once upon a time, in a land far away, a beautiful, independent, self-assured princess happened upon a frog, as she sat contemplating ecological issues on the shores of an unpolluted pond in a verdant meadow near her castle.
The frog hopped into the princess’s lap and said,
“Elegant lady! I was once a handsome prince, until an evil witch cast a spell upon me. One kiss from you, however, and I will turn back into the dapper young prince that I am. Then, my sweet, we can marry and set up housekeeping in yon castle with my mother, where you can prepare my meals, clean my clothes, bear my children, and forever feel grateful and happy doing so.”
That night, as the princess dined sumptuously on a repast of lightly sautéed frog legs, seasoned in a white wine and onion cream sauce, she chuckled to herself and thought,
“I don’t fucking think so.”
The person who sent that to our list said that she received it from a friend. No attribution. So I did a little research and tried to find out if there was an original source, but had no luck. It appeared in a couple of blogs (with the F word changed) that were much newer than my old hard copy of an email.
I love, love, love this piece. Anyone know who wrote it? Or have a clue how to find out?
REACH OUT AND TOUCH
As 2009 disappeared into 2010, Bill Boorman called for a special Carnival of HR. He asked HR and recruiting pros from all over the world to create a Vlog (video blog if you are unaware or extra-tired) with their predictions for the New Year. As sometimes happens, I chose not to follow directions too carefully. My video was actually a PLEA, not a prediction:
I wanted – and still want – the HR/Recruiting community to reach out and help others within the community. Don’t wait to be asked for help – offer it first.
Now that we have come to the end of the first 2010 month, I would like to recognize and shout out to a member of the HR/recruiting community for doing exactly what I asked for in that video: Laurie Ruettimann.
Laurie is a heavy hitter, and highly influential, in the HR/Rec world, enjoying a demand for her services as a writer, facilitator, panelist, and commentator. Her PunkRockHR blog is followed and read by a large and diverse population. Consequently, there is a certain amount of prestige in being included in her blogroll. So I was a bit surprised – but very delighted – when she REACHED OUT and asked people to furnish their blog information so she could include them on her updated blogroll.
Many bloggers are very particular about their blogroll – and understandably so. After all, it is essentially a recommendation by you that may impact your own credibility as a blogger. The fact that Laurie just brushed those concerns aside and invited everyone who blogs to be included makes her the recipient of my first Reach Out and Touch award of 2010. I think I’ll send her some bacon.
Who will be the recipient in February? You?
Partners In Health/Stand With Haiti
The rules are simple:
- Select a charity that is soliciting donations for aid in Haiti.
- Apply your HR and social media skills by doing a “background check” on that organization.
- Write up your findings, positive or negative, and post them on your blog no later than January 26th.
So asked Mike VanDervort, friend and fellow HR blogger, in his blog The Human Racehorses.
Sometimes, though, it is okay to color outside of the lines. So I changed the rules. I changed them because I didn’t want to pick a charity and research it. I wanted needed to find a charity that I could be comfortable sending more than a $10 text message to – and I wanted the best. The new rules?
- Pretend you are creating a new job position called Haitian charity.
- Undertake a needs assessment; determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities the charity must have to be successful and worthy of “hiring”.
- Research charities until you determine the perfect candidate.
- Hire the candidate charity by writing your findings in a blog and sending them the most sizable donation you can muster.
NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Experience is the usually the best teacher, so I looked back at the Indian Ocean tsunamis of 2004. I studied white papers, blogs, and news articles to see what I could learn about the effectiveness of charitable organizations in dealing with that disaster, and what types of problems all charitable organizations faced (examples here and here ).
After that research, it became clear to me that those non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that already had operations running in the affected area were the most efficient and effective performers. These NGOs already have committed people on the ground, have overcome language and culture barriers, have established contacts and connections with local vendors, and will remain engaged with the country on a long term basis. This became my main requirement for my charity: Long term commitment to Haiti that preceded the January 12 earthquake, evidenced by established operations.
The next skill is pretty basic: how much money goes to actual operational support, as opposed to administrative and fund-raising expenses? Research showed me that an organization that spends 80% of the donations it receives on charitable programs is considered efficient, while 90% is considered highly efficient. I always want the best I can get, so my additional requirement became: Program spending of 90% or greater.
FINDING THE CANDIDATE
One of the most important tools I used to research and find the ideal charity candidate was Charity Navigator. Itself an independent, non-profit that helps evaluate and promote charitable giving, they were so helpful that I found myself donating to them after finishing my research. There were many four-star rated charities with long-term Haitian ground operations, including Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres (the international parent of Doctors without Borders). In the end, I decided on Partners In Health/Stand With Haiti.
Partners In Health(PIH) has been working on the ground in Haiti since 1985. Their Zanmi Lasante (“partners in health”) project in Cange, Haiti is a community based health project that has grown to include 8 facilities in central Haiti. They are devoted to providing medical services to Haitian poor. PIH believes that health care is a right that should be available to everyone. Their vision is “whatever it takes”:
| The PIH Vision: Whatever it takes At its root, our mission is both medical and moral. It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at our disposal to make them well—from pressuring drug manufacturers, to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care and social services. Whatever it takes. Just as we would do if a member of our own family—or we ourselves—were ill. |
Almost 95% of their funds go to program expenses. If you go to Charity Navigator and look at the salaries of their top executives, you will understand why they are able to devote so much funding to their programs.
I wanted the best, and I think I found it.
PARTNERS IN HEALTH/STAND WITH HAITI
The rules are simple:
- Select a charity that is soliciting donations for aid in Haiti.
- Apply your HR and social media skills by doing a “background check” on that organization.
- Write up your findings, positive or negative, and post them on your blog no later than January 26th.
So asked Mike VanDervort, friend and fellow HR blogger, in his blog The Human Racehorses.
Sometimes, though, it is okay to color outside of the lines. So I changed the rules. I changed them because I didn’t want to pick a charity and research it. I wanted needed to find a charity that I could be comfortable sending more than a $10 text message to – and I wanted the best. The new rules?
- Pretend you are creating a new job position called Haitian charity.
- Undertake a needs assessment; determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities the charity must have to be successful and worthy of “hiring”.
- Research charities until you determine the perfect candidate.
- Hire the candidate charity by writing your findings in a blog and sending them the most sizable donation you can muster.
NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Experience is the usually the best teacher, so I looked back at the Indian Ocean tsunamis of 2004. I studied white papers, blogs, and news articles to see what I could learn about the effectiveness of charitable organizations in dealing with that disaster, and what types of problems all charitable organizations faced (examples here and here ).
After that research, it became clear to me that those non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that already had operations running in the affected area were the most efficient and effective performers. These NGOs already have committed people on the ground, have overcome language and culture barriers, have established contacts and connections with local vendors, and will remain engaged with the country on a long term basis. This became my main requirement for my charity: Long term commitment to Haiti that preceded the January 12 earthquake, evidenced by established operations.
The next skill is pretty basic: how much money goes to actual operational support, as opposed to administrative and fund-raising expenses? Research showed me that an organization that spends 80% of the donations it receives on charitable programs is considered efficient, while 90% is considered highly efficient. I always want the best I can get, so my additional requirement became: Program spending of 90% or greater.
FINDING THE CANDIDATE
One of the most important tools I used to research and find the ideal charity candidate was Charity Navigator. Itself an independent, non-profit that helps evaluate and promote charitable giving, they were so helpful that I found myself donating to them after finishing my research. There were many four-star rated charities with long-term Haitian ground operations, including Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres (the international parent of Doctors without Borders). In the end, I decided on Partners In Health/Stand With Haiti.
Partners In Health(PIH) has been working on the ground in Haiti since 1985. Their Zanmi Lasante (“partners in health”) project in Cange, Haiti is a community based health project that has grown to include 8 facilities in central Haiti. They are devoted to providing medical services to Haitian poor. PIH believes that health care is a right that should be available to everyone. Their vision is “whatever it takes”:
| The PIH Vision: Whatever it takes At its root, our mission is both medical and moral. It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at our disposal to make them well—from pressuring drug manufacturers, to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care and social services. Whatever it takes. Just as we would do if a member of our own family—or we ourselves—were ill. |
Almost 95% of their funds go to program expenses. If you go to Charity Navigator and look at the salaries of their top executives, you will understand why they are able to devote so much funding to their programs.
I wanted the best, and I think I found it.
News Content – Who's the Boss?
This post really begins at a different blog: Laurie Ruettiman’s Punk Rock HR. On January 15, 2010, on her weekly F@%k It Friday series. she posted a blog called Pat Robertson, Haiti, and The Devil. Her blog contained this video.
This blog and video generated a lively response of comments, including one from me:
HOW I SPENT $100
Last month I had a contest on this blog. The title of the blog was “The Social Media Ladder“, and I offered to give away $100 in a random drawing to someone who helped me out by commenting, tweeting, and otherwise mentioning my blog.
The contest winner was Krista Francis, an HR pro from the D.C. area that I got to know on Twitter. You can watch my announcement video below (which I previously posted on HR University but neglected to post on this site).
Krista was sent her book and $100 cash prize. Then I received the following email from her detailing how she spent that money:
Thank you again for the opportunity to win $100 in your social media ladder contest. But as thrilled as I was to win, I had the unsettling feeling that I didn’t especially deserve it. Winning was a matter of chance, after all. As difficult as 2009 was for so many, most of us at least have the bottom rungs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs covered: safety, security. Food. A roof. Clean water. Family.
Africa-born and raised, I know the things we take for granted are not necessarily givens in much of the world. So when your $100 fell into my lap, I decided to pass it on to others in greater need, specifically women and children who make up the vast majority of the extreme poor in the world.
The first $25 went to Kiva.org. Along with dozens of others, we helped Evelyn in Nigeria secure a $1000 loan to buy more inventory (cloths, sarongs) for her market stall. When she repays the loan, I will lend the principle to another small entrepreneur trying to better his/her life. I also donated a 15% surcharge, or 3.75, to help meet Kiva’s administrative charges.
The second $25 we donated to the employee recognition fund at Jubilee Association, the nonprofit where I work. Jubilee serves people with developmental disabilities, but you may be interested to know that we didn’t choose to direct the donation to them. As the human resources director, I preferred to designate the monies for the employee recognition fund. Our staff work very hard, sacrificing much, for meager wages and little prestige. Indeed, $25 seemed a tiny amount, which is why I give the rest of my life to this cause.
Next, $20 went to Heifer International. Our gift will provide a flock of baby chicks to a family in the developing world. The chicks will grow into chickens, which will provide eggs, which will provide food and revenue. Bonus: as part of the program, the recipient is required to pass on some chicks to someone else so that they can start their own flock.
The next $25 went to Global Mission,which provides education and care to orphans in Jos, Nigeria, where I was born.
That leaves $1.25. I gave $2.00 to a homeless woman huddling against the 20 degree weather on the corner of Democracy & Old Georgetown in Bethesda.
So there we go. $100 given away in five days. A fun and gratifying exercise, though one that left me with the aching knowledge that I had omitted so many noble causes: clean water, violence against women, child exploitation, literacy, health care, and so many more.
Wow. Here is a woman who gets a $100 windfall and promptly gives it away. Then, this past week, I received a message from her saying it was too bad, given the events in Haiti, that she had already donated the money elsewhere.
I’m proud to know this person and happy that she won my little contest.
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CONFERENCE(s) CALL(ing)
In all of my lengthy professional life, I had never been to a conference. I had been to plenty of trade shows and training seminars, but a conference – where people actually talked to each other and exchanged ideas – was outside of my experience. Now that I am unemployed, why am I preparing to sign up for two very expensive HR conferences, spending a fortune in travel, lodging, and meals on top of the registration costs, and considering several more?
Twitter.
Jim Mitchem, whose Twitter name is @smashadv, said it best: The best part of Twitter is the humility that comes with realizing that you’re *never* the smartest person in the room.
When I got really involved in Twitter late last summer, I learned that there was a whole group of highly intelligent HR and recruiting pros online that were willing to share their knowledge and insights. When some of those pros hosted an “unconference” called HRevolution, with the idea that the exchange and engagement from Twitter would come alive, I knew I had to go.
HRevolution was electrifying for me. It was a non-stop exchange of ideas about a profession amongst highly intelligent practitioners, and I was instantly addicted. Now I crave more, because
That quote, from Monster.com‘s Eric Weingardner (@ewmonster on Twitter), says it all for me. I’m going to start out with the Employment Law & Legislative Update given by SHRM, then attend HRevolution in May. I’m taking advantage of early registration for SHRM 2010, their June annual conference. I’m sure there will be more along the way, and I am happy to take suggestions.
How about you? Want to plug your HR Conference or talk about your conference plans?
Handicap Parking
C’mon . . . ‘fess up. You have thought that there are a lot of people using the handicap parking spots that don’t LOOK very handicapped. The people that don’t appear handicapped just appear . . . old.
I have to admit that this thought has crossed my mind before, but the thought was pretty fleeting until recently. I’m one of those people that usually tries to park *further* from the door, and call it my daily/weekly/monthly exercise. How many people were using those reserved parking spots – and why – was not particularly important to me.
Then, last month, I had an operation my right foot. For six weeks, I am confined to wearing an orthopedic shoe/sandal thing on that foot. This is basically fine by me, because my foot is so swollen that it won’t fit into any shoe that I own. I will be limping and with limited mobility, according to my doctor, for several months. He gave me a form so that I could go to the Michigan Secretary of State and get a temporary placard that would allow me to legally park in a designated handicap spot. (In Michigan it’s called “disability parking”, which is more politically correct, but less recognizable.)
I’ve got my temporary placard, but I have hardly used it. It’s not that I haven’t tried to use it – it’s Michigan, and it’s cold and/or snowing when I go to the grocery or drug store. Since I couldn’t even wear socks for a while due to the swelling, parking a little closer would be a treat. I walk limp very slowly right now, so that cold air hits those unprotected toes even longer.
I don’t use it because the handicapped parking spaces are almost always full. When I get inside, though, I almost never see anyone with a cane, walker, wheelchair, or other orthopedic device. I always look like the most disabled person in the store.
What do you think? Is there a massive abuse of handicap parking, or are most disabilities invisible? Is it handicapped or handicap?
HR 101 – HR and the Law – Part 2
If you haven’t had enough law related information this week, head on over to Creative Chaos Consultant. I am happy and humbled to be part of the “HR101″ series, where guests explore different aspects of HR management. The focus of the entire series is the small and medium- sized business owner. This week I offered HR and the Law-Part 2, which discusses some laws that affect HR and why compliance with those laws is good business.
5 Copyright Law Myths
I have only been a blogger for a couple of months, but most of these things have irked me for a long time. When I jumped into social media in 2009, I found these myths or misunderstandings were more pervasive and common than I expected, particularly among bloggers.
Myth #1: It’s spelled copywrite.
Okay, a misspelling is not a myth, but it bugs me. Looking up the proper spelling would take about 15 seconds.
The reason it is called (and spelled) copyright is because the law gives the creator of certain “works of authorship” the exclusive right to reproduce (“copy”) that content. It is not about writing, per se, because even though certain writings are protected creative content, so are such diverse creations as musical works, dramatic works, pantomimes, graphic works, and architectural works.
MYTH #2: You can’t copy my idea.
The foremost purpose of copyright law is to encourage individual effort as a way to advance public knowledge and culture. By limiting copyright protection to the author’s method of expressing an idea, and not to the idea itself, others can create and disseminate more work and information. If I have a great new idea for HR practice, and I blog about it, that idea is not protected and others may use it, even if they took the idea from my blog. The only thing copyright law protects is the particular words I used to express the idea. Some ideas are protected by other laws, such as patent law, but the requirements for protection are usually very stringent.
MYTH #3: I wrote that title and you can’t use it.
Names, titles, slogans, and short phrases are not copyrightable. This is true even if it is unique or novel.
MYTH #4: I can copy your work because I don’t make money with it.
This is probably a simplification of the “fair use” defense, but it is dangerous and inaccurate. Under the fair use defense, the purpose and use of the infringing work, and whether that use is “commercial in nature”, is only one of four factors that a court might look at to determine whether there is actionable infringement. Not making money with the copy is not definitive. I don’t make money with this blog, but I certainly don’t have the right to copy someone else’s and paste it here.
Determining if a copy is an infringement or is fairly used is actually very difficult. There is purposefully no specific number of words, lines, or percentages. Each complaint is determined on a case-by-case basis. The best way to avoid any complaint from a copyright holder is to get permission. Acknowledging the source of your copy does not legally replace permission.
MYTH #5: I can copy your work because it does not say or show ©.
Under current law, neither notice (©) or registration is required for a copyright to attach to a given work. A copyright is attached to original expression the moment it is fixed in a tangible form. Registration of your copyright, while not required for your rights to attach, is desirable for a number of reasons.
The U.S. Copyright Office has an excellent website with a great FAQ section. It will even tell you how to protect your Elvis sighting. Other questions (and comments) welcomed!
Now Laurie is always generous and thoughtful, responding to all comments on her blog. This is what she said about my comment:
I hope I still have your attention after all of this back story, because what I really want to do right now is discuss Laurie’s reply.
While I don’t dispute the idea that television viewers/consumers are accountable for the content that is created, I maintain that consumers are far less responsible for NEWS content than entertainment content. I will lay ALL of the blame at the feet of consumers when it comes to entertainment, but I’m a lot less sure of audience responsibility when it comes to news content.
Let’s face it, every person in the United States could have called MSNBC on January 2 and said, “Hey, we want you to cover a natural disaster that causes massive destruction and death. Maybe an earthquake in Haiti. Within 10 days, please.” That quake in Haiti, and the resultant news coverage, didn’t happen because audiences asked for it. No matter how great the consumer demand, and the resultant high viewer percentages to sell to advertisers, the news content has to come first. Without that content, the news media can’t produce any product.
Al-Qaeda and other extremist terrorist organizations know this all too well. Their opinions don’t get any airplay from new organizations until they bomb buildings or blow up airplanes. So they create the content for the TV executives and producers to put on their newscasts. Without that content, the viewers neither know or care about Al-Qaeda’s message. That content is chosen by the TV and other media executives, and then the audience responds.
Yes, the public, or some degree of it, cares about what Pat Robertson thinks about Haiti, even if it is just to hiss and boo his message. But the public only cares because – as the children say when they have been caught misbehaving – the other guy ( news organizations) started it.
There was a great movie made while back that satirized this very problem. “Wag the Dog” is about White House spin doctors hiring a Hollywood director to create a war. In the movie, news content was CREATED to control the public demand for certain news. The movie may have been fiction, but I think it was based, as great satires are, on fact. That, in my book, is the essence of corporate irresponsibility.
What do you think? Who should bear the responsibility for inane or irrelevant news content?