What You Are Is Where You Were When

Even with all the doom, gloom, and general depression surrounding the state of education in this country, one of the the things that helps me to feel there may still be some hope is the quality of the writing that I continue to stumble upon in many of the blogs I come across.

One of these that I have followed with admiration for quite a while is What Would Dad Say? which is the domain of GL Hoffman, who describes himself as follows:

A baby boomer dad rambles on about the workplace, recruiting, jobs, startups and anything else mildly amusing.

I know I am probably well behind the learning curve here in terms of those who have already discovered Hoffman's musings, but in case you haven't, add me to those who would suggest you are missing something if you haven't check him out.

It was in reading one of GL's recent posts that he sang the praises of a twentysomething blogger named Jacqui Tom whose blog is called The OfficeNewb. Jacqui describes herself thusly:

Jacqui Tom (aka “The Office Newb”) is a young professional working her way up the corporate ladder. A graduate of the University of Washington - Seattle, Jacqui launched her career with internships at AOL (America Online) and Amazon.com, Inc. Currently a web editor at an internet publisher, Jacqui has been moving steadily through the ranks to become the company’s youngest supervisor.

Typing furiously from her cubicle, she shares lessons about life, business and everything in between.

This young lady has a way with words as well, and "listening" to her and "Dad" exchange views on the differences between the boomers and the Gen Y world I found interesting as well as entertaining; two things that don't always come packaged together.

It reminded me of a guy named Morris Massey who in the 80s (I think) produced a series of videos called What You Are Is Where You Were When. In the age of PPT and streaming video, etc., watching Morris make magic with his white board marker was still pretty effective as he helped people understand why your parents might not see things quite the way you do. Of course the fact that one really couldn't relate to the differences until you were an "adult" yourself was a bit of a bummer, but still it was good info to have.

As a manager, all of this also reminded me an answer that I gave in an interview some years ago when I was asked what area of the HR function did I think was the most important? My answer was something like "Well, if you told me I only had a $1 to spend and I could only spend it on one thing, I would spend it on communications."

I haven't changed my mind.