In his newsletter a while ago, Chris Brogan wrote:

If you want to know one of my biggest prized secrets, something that Julien Smith and I wrote about in a different way in the Archimedes Effect part of Trust Agents, it’s this: understanding when to comply and when not to comply is a huge secret to becoming more successful.

Meaning: fight where it’s useful to fight, and just comply with the things that aren’t worth fighting about, even if they’re annoying.

As HR professionals, we often come up against a lot of obstacles when trying to implement innovative and strategic programs. I sometimes worry that by the time we wade through the layers of approvals, the finished product is nothing like we had envisioned (and not always in a good way).

Sometimes we have to dig in our heels and fight for what we believe. But sometimes it makes more sense to just go along with it. A key skill for HR pros is learning how tell the difference between those two situations.

Check out Chris’s newsletter to learn more.

Pops. Photo by me.

My senior year in high school, I had the privilege of interviewing Pops, a homeless from Rhode Island.

When I met him, Pops had been living on the streets for about three years. He was holding a sign that read, “HOMELESS: Please Help. Will Work. Thank you + GOD BLESS.”

This hole… you can’t dig yourself out of this hole. It’s almost impossible, and I accept that. If God can give me just one more day, something good may happen. You never know.

We chatted for an hour. Throughout our conversation, I was stuck by how upbeat and optimistic Pops was. As we parted ways, he turned around and shouted back at me, “Don’t give up!”

I haven’t seen him since.

Every time I see a homeless person, I think of Pops and wonder what I can do to help. I’ve considered giving people Subway gift cards, but it doesn’t feel like enough.

Kristen Jacoway has written a fantastic, short article on things you can do right now to help the homeless.

Kristen has some great ideas. Help her spread them!

A big part of the Renegade HR philosophy is putting ideas into action.

On the interwebz, particularly in the social media space, there’s a tendancy to bounce lots of ideas around inside an echo chamber. I’ve lost track of how many tweets, blog posts and (sigh) Google Waves I’ve seen that ask some form of the question, “How can we improve HR?”

Don’t get me wrong – that’s an important question. But at some point, you need to stop talking about it and start doing something about it.

Seth Godin just released a free ebook titled What Matters Now. It’s a collection of big thoughts and little actions you can take to make a difference.

(It’s also an easy read if you have some down-time during the winter holiday season.)

Download the book. Then get out there and make stuff happen!

Image by misterbisson

By now, you’ve installed your blog, chosen a theme, and started writing a few articles.

Today, I’m going to show you how to improve the SEO of your site and keep annoying spammers from leaving comments.

Keep reading…

For the last few months, I’ve been experimenting with a Renegade HR Facebook page. Starting next week, I’m deleting the page.

I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, but I also didn’t want anyone who currently uses the page or noticed the link to it in the sidebar before to get confused. Here’s the rationale…

Right now, the page is kind of a lamer version of my Twitter account. I always forget to go on there, and quite frankly, I don’t like it as much as I like blogging or tweeting.

I had hoped that we would use it as a discussion forum, but our community seems to engage in discussions more here on Renegade HR and on Twitter than anything else – which is totally cool! But I feel bad keeping it out there and up and running since I neglect it so badly. I don’t think it’s a good representation of the quality you normally get from Renegade HR.

So I’m pulling it down.

If you’re currently one of the 130-ish people who are fans, I sincerely hope that you’ll connect and interact with me here, on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

A few days ago, you learned how to how to setup an employer branding blog.

Today, I’m going to teach you how to format the layout of your site and optimize the SEO.

Keep reading…

Image by Untitled Blue

By now, you should have a pretty good idea about what good culture blogging looks like. You may have even brainstormed (or written?) a few articles.

Today, I’m going to show you how to setup your employer branding blog.

Keep reading…