“First say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do.” – Epictetus

This issue discusses:

Editor's Column: The Role of HR in a Knowledge Economy

Why Can’t My Employees Think Like Owners?

Three Ways to Reduce Workers Comp Exposures

How Not to Respond to Sexual Harassment Allegations

Using Service Dogs at Work

What's Going on in Talent Acquisition?

Age Discrimination Case Can Continue Due to Managers Offhand Remarks

Question of the Month

We have also provided you with the Form of the Month.

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Editor's Column: The Role of HR in a Knowledge Economy

I recently read George Gilder's Knowledge and Power, a powerful and profound book. Gilder's bottom line: “Knowledge is power today. Knowledge is wealth today.”

The book uses the word “entropy” a lot. Gilder defines entropy as “a measure of surprise, disorder, randomness, noise, disequilibrium, and complexity.”  Its economic fruits include creativity and profit. Its opposites are predictability, order, simplicity, determinism, equilibrium, etc. Gilder wants a low-entropy government that provides a foundation for high-entropy entrepreneurs to create, innovate, and grow the economy.

I see a dual role for HR in a knowledge economy. One role is to provide the low-entropy stability that supports a creative, innovative workforce by ensuring that a business hires the right people, stays in compliance, has the right insurance, etc.  HR also has an opportunity to be creative and innovative in a high-entropy environment that works not just on the system, but in it. As Gilder states, “economic conditions can change overnight when power is dispersed and the surprises of human creativity are released.”

What knowledge—which is far more than just information—is your HR department providing to management? What have they discerned and communicated about company hiring approaches, productivity, retention, and motivation?

Gilder's insight reminds me of Orbiting the Giant Hairball by the late Gordon Mackenzie, creative director at Hallmark, who was widely known for his high-entropy approach. MacKenzie describes an organization’s policies and procedures as the giant hairball, arguing that people  need vision, mission, values, and goals to provide a low-entropy stabilizing foundation that allows them to orbit the hairball, while unleashing their creativity.

This is another way of saying that a business needs both “administrative HR” (low entropy and stabilizing) and “strategic HR” (high entropy and creative).

To help you unleash the strategic potential of your business, I encourage you to read and absorb the lessons of Gilder’s book.

Why Can’t My Employees Think Like Owners?

I have had this question asked to me dozens of times during my CEO workshops. My answer is consistently: If they thought and acted like owners then they would be owners. Most employees are risk averse. Most prefer the steady paycheck over the realities of trying to run a business with all the risk it entails. What you can do is help employees to better appreciate the finances of your business through open book management. I encourage you to watch the recent Webinar on Open Book Management from the Great Game of Business as well as the Webinar with Brett Hams on Ownership Thinking.

Three Ways to Reduce Workers Comp Exposures

Last October, while conducting a webinar on Creating an Injury Prevention and Management Program That Works, I asked the attendees three questions:

Do you conduct pre-hire fit for duty exams?  More than two in three attendees didn’t spend the time or money on these exams, weren’t aware that they were available, or didn’t know how to conduct them. For nine straight years I trained Workers Comp brokers on how to help clients reduce their claims by doing these exams. The bottom line: You don't want to hire a future Comp claim. For more information,