HR Carnival Jukebox

Welcome to the HR Carnival Jukebox, a cornucopia of HR-related blog posts, tailored in a fashion similar to a jukebox.

The art of jukeboxes is they allow anyone with a dime (more like a dollar these days) to broadcast their favorite tunes so that everyone can hear what they're thinking or feeling.  Jukeboxes let you become the DJ.

Blogs are similar in this fashion.  The internet is the jukebox. The blog is the record.  And the post is your dime (or metaphoric five cents) you drop in the jukebox.

At "the Occupation", the only thing that “occupies” me more than HR is popular music. Thus it only seemed fitting when hosting the HR Carnival that I tailor it around popular music.  I’ve sorted each post into genres/styles and gave each post a B-side, a corresponding song that reflects the content that lies therein.

Thankfully, many of the authors contributed their own genres (marked with one*) and/or B-sides (marked with two**). Next to each blog post link is a song link to grooveshark if you wish to listen to them individually. Or you can use the below widget to follow along. Either way, I recommend clicking on both at the same time to get the full effect. Hopefully the soundtrack to the posts make sense and adds to the experience of reading them.

As you will see, there is everything from standards to heavy metal, from HR royalty to HR newcomers. And even a section devoted to the local music scene (HR Philly bloggers).  So grab a couple of dollars, put them into the jukebox, and let the music play.

Pop: 

Songs with great hooks and great messages that get stuck in your head and resonate with you all day.

Mary Jo Asmus at Aspire Collaborative Services: "Wait! Don't Fire That Person (Yet)!"
b/w The Buckinghams "Don't You Care"

**Dan McCarthy at Great Leadership: "How To Discuss an Employee Performance Problem"
b/w The Beatles "We Can Work It Out"

**Shauna Moerke (HRMinion) at SHRMingham: "Culture Shock"
b/w Little Boots "New In Town"

**Mike Krupa at Infobox: "How To Steal Time for Social Media"
b/w Jim Croce "Time In A Bottle"

Gautam Ghosh at Organizations 2.0: "Innovation and HR's Quest To Be Strategic"
b/w Madonna "Jump"

Classic Rock:  

Ben Eubanks at UpstartHR: "How To Find/Make Meaningful Work"
b/w Joe Cocker "With A Little Help From My Friends"

Tanmay Vora at QAspire Blog: "Engagement, Leadership and Power of Storytelling"  
b/w Steely Dan "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" 

Kevin Eikenberry at Leadership & Learning: "Steven Slater, Leadership Coach?"
b/w The Doobie Brothers "Listen To The Music"

Mervyn Dinnen at T Recs: "Work Rate, Vision, Reinvention...Lessons Learned from David Bowie": Any Bowie song will do but my first choice is "Sound and Vision", my second is "Moonage Daydream"

**Mike VanDervort at Human Race Horses: "Jimmy Buffet on Strategic Human Resources Issues"
b/w Jimmy Buffet "Fruitcakes" (I want my Junior Mints too!)

Jazz:

*Lance Haun at Rehaul: "Confusion About The War For Talent"
b/w Getz/Gilberto: The Girl From Ipanema

Standards:

Gunjan Bhatia at Talent Junction Managing: "Performance of Workers":
b/w Peggy Lee w/ The Mills Brothers "It Must Be So"

80's: 

A style that I always head to first on the jukebox

Steve Boese at Steve's HR Technology: "Designing Experiences"
b/w Tears For Fears "Change"

**Kevin Grossman (HR Marketer) at The Glowan Consulting Group: "L3-TV: A-Players Are Jumping From Their Ship of Fools"
b/w World Party "Ship Of Fools"

John Hunter at Curious Cat Management Improvement", a dedication to Peter Scholtes:
b/w R.E.M. "Voice Of Harold" (I hope this song does this post justice.)

Mark Stelzner at Inflexion Advisors: "The Future Of HR"
b/w ‘til Tuesday "Voices Carry"

Mike Kohn at The HR Intern: "Unconscious Competency"
b/w Joe Jackson "Fit"

*Laura Schroeder at Working Girl: "Reflections on Self-Selection Part II"
b/w The Psychedelic Furs "Love My Way"

*Trish McFarlane at HR Ringleader: "Becoming A Social Media Pitchman"
b/w Joe Jackson "I’m The Man"

April Dowling at PseudoHR: "Customer Service Is Like, Hard and Stuff"
b/w The Cars "All Mixed Up"

90’s:

**Laurie Ruettimann at PunkRockHR: "I'm Pfree"
b/w Soup Dragons "I’m Free" + I had to throw in my own: The Sundays "Here’s Where The Story Ends"
(GL in your new venture, Laurie!)

Lois Melbourne at Acquire Blog: "My Jukebox Soapbox"
b/w Jane's Addiction "Been Caught Stealing"

Heavy Metal:

*Evil HR Lady (Suzanne Lucas) at BNET: "My HR Department Bullies Employees"
b/w Cinderella "Nobody's Fool"

*Cathy Missildine-Martin at Profitability Through Human Capital: "HR, Get Your Bass Guitar and Leather Pants"
b/w Twisted Sister "I Wanna Rock"

Stuart Ritchie at 1.00 FTE:  "A Good Time Was Had By Some"
b/w Spinal Tap "Heavy Duty"

 Indie:

*Benjamin McCall at ReThinkHR: "Candidate Response, Company Brand and ATS"
b/w Sonic Youth "Bull In The Heather"

*Meg Bear at TalentedApps: "Hidden Option D"
b/w Radiohead "Just"

Electronica:

*David Wentworth at i4cp: "Social Media Goes To Work"
b/w Kraftwerk "Computer World"

R&B

Naomi Bloom at In Full Bloom: "Where Are The Snowdens of Yesterday"
b/w Aretha Franklin "Think" (The Queen of HR Soul has spoken)

*Aaron Queen at EffortlessHRBlog: "Do We Need Succession Planning?"
b/w Four Tops "Reach Out I’ll Be There"

**Susan Burns at Talent Synchronicity: "Crossing the Chasm of Workplace Irony"
b/w Gloria Gaynor "I Will Survive"

Rap & Hip-Hop:

*Drew Tarvin at Humor That Works: "12 Inspirational Lyrics from Hip-Hop"
b/w Fugees "Fu-Gee-La"

Opera:

**Wally Bock at Three Star Leadership Blog: "The HP Way":"This is an aria from the last act of any Puccini opera. Someone is dying, but as with most Puccini operas, they will sing a while before their final breath."

Local Music Scene: 

Every city's got one and Philly has an outstanding group of writers that approach HR from all sides.  Sorry, Cincinnati.  I know you think you folks are broadcasting as the best HR city.  But WKRP was in AM.  WTTO is broadcasting in FM ("no static at all") and we've got it all from hip-hop to dance, from 80's pop to the best alternative!

**Rich DeMatteo at Corn On The Job: "Don't Tell Me About Your Butt"
b/w Sir Mix A Lot "Baby’s Got Back"

Fran Melmed at Free Range Communications: "What Song Is Your Company?"
b/w Lady Gaga "Just Dance" or Heatwave "The Groove Line" (because dancing breaks should occur in the workplace as part of a wellness program)

Frank Roche at KnowHR: "Labels Are For Packages, Not Employees"
b/w King Crimson "Model Man"

Bill Strahan at Human Markets: "Count The HR Mistakes"
b/w Men At Work "It's A Mistake"

Well folks that's all, as they say. I hope you have the opportunity to explore each of these posts and I hope you had some fun listening to some tunes.  I know I did.

Thanks to everyone who contributed.