I first wrote about the cult of personality in the HR marketplace almost two years ago, and although the closest I've ever personally come to stardom is playing the role of Epstein in a sixth-grade Mad magazine spoof of Welcome Back, Kotter, the magic lacking since in our space has been palatable.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of quality HR supplier leaders in the HR marketplace, but after reading John Sumser's post earlier this week on where Recruiting.com is now, you wonder where the Jason Goldberg's are today. You've got Larry Ellison from Oracle, but that's an anomaly of sorts, out of our mainstream.
Just as we're looking for HR to shake things up and be a dynamic business leader in today's organizations, I'd like to make the same call to CEOs and Executive Management in our space to shake things up and be dynamic leaders in the greater global business pool. Find an edge and jump and instill that in your culture from the inside out (great call with Vocii about this yesterday).
The space is too buttoned down still and supplier differentiation is tough for HR buyers. And all the marketing and PR in the world isn't clearing the clutter. Eat some Apples.
Ah, but there's a new consolidation taking place between supplier and cult of personality.
Prolific and trusted HR bloggers, especially those who are refreshingly direct, sometimes brash, occasionally irreverent, let your hair down and die it purple in your face let's do this thing called HR supernova who owns your ass and don't you forget about it --
Or, just simply refreshingly direct, are now merging with HR suppliers.
YourHRGuy (Lance Haun) went to MeritBuilder. Jobing.com acquired Cheezhead (Joel Cheesman). And this week RecruitingBlogs.com acquired Punk Rock HR (Laurie Ruettimann).
It's the end of magic lacking in the HR marketplace and the beginning of the new rock star content marketing differentiator. Who's next?
Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)
Labels: bloggers, consolidation, content marketing, MeritBuilder, Punk Rock HR, RecruitingBlogs.com