Category Archives: General Thoughts

The Art of Saying No

“I did not ASK your opinion Stelzner. Just do it and get the hell out of my office!!” He was spitting mad and kicked at the air, accidentally crashing his toes into the edge of his desk. So I did two things – 1) I got the hell out of his office; and 2) I did [...]
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The Definitive Response

My inane ability to shut down a conversation by providing the definitive response has become a bit of a joke in our industry. Now referred to as “pulling a Stelzner” (not my invention, I promise), it’s invoked anytime someone states their opinion with such confidence and false gravitas that the listener is either stunned into [...]
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Why Twitter Matters

When I first joined Twitter I had no idea how it would change my life. If you’re not a fan, I understand (and even respect) your decision to avoid jumping into the fray. It’s not for everyone and frankly that’s okay. I can only account for my experiences and one could argue that the resulting outcomes [...]
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How To Live Tweet A Conference

I received an email on Monday from a respected colleague who asked - “I’ve followed you on Twitter for some time now and always find your live conference coverage to be extremely helpful. How exactly do you go about live tweeting? Is there a protocol? Do other conference attendees find it annoying? Give me a few [...]
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5 Tips For Great Facilitation

With HRevolution right around the corner, I have been asked by several presenters to comment on the “unconference” setting. The easiest way to explain what’s different is that every session is intended to be a facilitated conversation. But what if you’re not comfortable or proficient in engaging an audience that is largely used to a traditional [...]
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5 Ways to Torpedo Your Next HR Sale

To borrow a phrase from my good friend Jason Seiden, I have seen HR service providers “Fail Spectacularly” in any number of ways over the years. Having been on both sides of transactions ranging from $100,000 to well over $1 billion, I will tell you that the most common means of self-destruction are often the [...]
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Get A Life (Not A Job)

Until the fall of 1989, I was on my way to becoming an astronaut. I was in the best shape of my life, had been accepted into a top ten university for aerospace engineering, easily completed advanced placement tests in physics and calculus (among others) and had an innate curiosity for the unknown. This was [...]
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Environment Matters

We all are intuitively aware of how environment can effect employee behavior, and nowhere is this more critical than in service centric organizations. In fact, as consumers, we tend to assess service satisfaction via a series of “clues”, including: Functional clues: The efficiency and quality of the service. Mechanical clues: Design and atmosphere (which sets service expectations). Humanic [...]
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You Have All The Answers

I have a hypothesis that I’d like to share with you. It’s not a new idea and frankly not terribly inventive, yet in my opinion we must embrace this concept holistically for our industry to evolve. Here it is: You have all the answers. I told you this was simple. The premise is that any issue human resources [...]
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Change Hurts. Resistance Hurts More.

The one common theme that we face in modern business is the necessity for change. It’s painful. It’s emotional. It sucks. The reality of a situation we no longer can control often leads us to do foolish things in a desperate attempt to clutch to the status quo. We revolt, we resist, and we pay [...]
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