Change the name of HR?

jason.averbook — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:31:37 GMT

Seth Godin, one of the most popular leaders of the new world when it comes to marketing and branding recently had a post entited "Marketing HR". Seth is also the author of a great book "The Dip" that I highly recommend. Many of the Knowledge Infusion beliefs around engagement and change are detailed in Seth's book. In his post, he makes a number of great points that Knowledge Infusion is asked about and speaks about on a daily basis. A few key points being:

HR departments were created when people ran machines and we tried to limit the number of people needed in an organization. Today's knowledge economy means that HR must be flipped on its head as it is trying to attract and retain more people, not eliminate and optimize people.
Most HR processes were built at least 50 years ago, once again, during the manufacturing economy boom. They certainly aren't still the right processes for today.
What HR measures today has nothing truly to do with the success of the business for the most part. It measures its ability to count and report (which most still struggle to do).
HR has become much more embedded in the lines of business today which is a HUGE accomplishment in itself, but still is seen by many as Human Resources, not an organization driving the future of an enterprise.

Seth's point in his article is "how about renaming HR to Talent?". Seth takes a cynical point meaning that HR (or Talent) would then have to be responsible for this function of talent management, not just talk about it. Hmm.....

Love your thoughts and debate

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Change the name of HR?