Bad day rant

I am having a really bad, no good, terrible kind of day. Okay, it’s actually not that bad – I have buckets to be grateful for and nothing has actually gone wrong.

Yet I just feel so “bleh” and dejected. What’s up with that?

The most interesting part is that I don’t care to make myself feel better. I could rattle off a million things I could do that would put me in a better frame of mind. I have all sorts of coaching tips and tricks to knock me over the doldrums fence. And I have prayers galore that would instantly raise my spirits. But I’m not interested. I am such a happy, up, all is great-all the time kind of gal that I’m finding some strange satisfaction in being unhappy. Now really, what is up with THAT?

Maybe it’s actually an act of compassion. Because I am usually so positive myself, perhaps it is sometimes difficult to relate to others that were born with a more pessimistic (or as they would likely say, reality-driven) streak.

Maybe it’s an act of surrender. If God and the stars and nature and whatever other voodoo-jou-jou is conspiring to make me have a rough day, then I’m best to just accept it. Why fight the toxicity when you can just let it flow right past.

It could be an act of prescience. Maybe this is just the wake up call I need to realize some ailing element in my life. I may look back at this day in weeks to come and recognize that my bad day was the sign of some major change.

Perhaps it’s an act of observation. An opportunity to watch it, question it, examine it – but not attach to it. How very Yogi of me.

Or maybe it’s just a not-so-bad, not-so-great, not-so-terrible day and one should not waste timing writing about in a blog. And instead move on to whatever the next moment holds. Because maybe it will be joy or it will be sadness, but this current bleh moment is moments away from being in the past.

An Interview with HR & Leadership Icon, Dave Ulrich

I recently had the opportunity to attend a conference led by some of the luminary business minds in Human Resources via the RBL Group. Originally another colleague was intended for the spot but had to bow out. Making good on the quote, “Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss,” I was ecstatic to be asked to fill in. I believe that ‘seize the opportunity’ attitude helped me to reap as much as possible from the experience. And it was quite a transformative experience.

One of the not-to-be-taken-for-granted opportunities was interviewing Dave Ulrich for the Life at Juniper blog. Dave is an HR icon. He has been ranked as both the #1 most influential person in HR and the #1 most influential international thought leader in HR several times by HR Magazine. Dave also has been named one of the 10 most innovative and creative thinkers by Fast Company, ranked as the #1 management educator and guru by Business Week and listed in Forbes as one of the “world’s top five” business coaches. Not to mention being an all around really nice guy.

Please enjoy reading the thoughts Dave was kind enough to share.

Josie:  

You have several upcoming book releases, what are some of the topics you'll cover?

Dave:  

We are very excited about books on both HR and leadership.

In HR, we hope to define the way forward by looking at HR from the Outside In (both a book title and the message) where we show that strategic HR can evolve to outside/in where HR connects work to external stakeholders and business conditions.  And, we have global HR Competencies (another book) where we report the competencies required of HR in each global region to deliver on the outside/in expectations.  We are very grateful for our partners in our HR competency research.

In leadership, we have two books.  One is the next step in our leadership journey.  We have talked about why leadership matters (why the bottom line isn’t) and about what leadership required (Leadership Code andLeadership Brand).  Our book on leadership sustainability focuses on how leaders implement what they start; how they make sure that their desired outcomes actually happen.  Our other book, leadership in Asia Pacific, reports innovative research on how leadership occurs in different Asian markets (China, Thailand, Malaysia).

Josie: 

What factors are making these topics so critical?

Dave:  

A number of years ago the US military came up with the term VUCA to describe world conditions: volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.  These external conditions continue and in these conditions external stakeholders (customer, investors, suppliers, regulators, communities) have demanding and changing expectations.  Organizations who do not anticipate and respond will fail; organizations who build agility, flexibility, and capacity for change into their cultures will likely survive.

Josie:  

Why should people outside the human resources function care about HR?

Dave:  

Senior leaders care about human resources because HR professionals inform decisions about individual talent, organization capabilities, and leadership.  When talent, capabilities, and leadership align with external expectations, organizations sustain their competitive advantage.

Employees care about HR because HR shapes an employee value proposition to ensure that employees receive meaningful value for the work that they contribute.  In our Why of Work book, we suggest that employees not only get economic value, but meaningful work from the work they do.

Josie:  

What is the next big thing on the horizon that is going to shift the way we experience and think about work?

Dave:  

Whew…wish I knew for sure.   My sense is that work is being redefined through technology.  Technology allows for shared information so decisions are made differently.  Technology enables a mobile workforce so that the boundaries of work are redefined.  Technology redefines time and relationships so work is done anywhere, anytime, with anyone.  Technology speeds decisions, changes where and how work is done.  Technology also intrudes in personal lives.

I am grateful to Dave for taking the time not only to respond to these questions but also to generously provide a 30-minute 1:1 coaching opportunity to many of the conference participants. That single mentoring session has provided me with a career’s worth of aspirations and goals.

If you were given the same opportunity to pitch a few questions to a megastar in your professional field, what would you ask?

How would YOU respond to the final two questions I posed to Dave?