Before I name the recipient, it has been a year since I started the Pop Culture HR Award Series. It is one of my favorite blog posts to do. Then, I realize that the name is just too long and the award should have a name. After consideration, the Pop Culture HR Award is now called…
THE MEL KIPER, JR. AWARD
Name after the first Pop Culture HR Award recipient and NFL Draft Guru, it is fitting when the NFL Draft starts this week, people shall remember Mel Kiper all year-long. For the recipients of the Mel Kiper, Jr. Award, they get a set of Mel Kiper’s Hair.
Onto the recipient: You might not recognize him in the streets or know who he looks like, but he is essential of creating the best shows on TV. The winner of the Mel Kiper, Jr. Award:
At first glance for HR professionals, you know David Simon can transfer his skills from journalism to entertainment and it paying him dividends.
As executive producer and creator of great shows like Homicide, The Wire, and his new venture, Treme, Simon prefers using a realistic approach to his shows. He prefers local actors in cities like Baltimore and New Orleans. However, instead of using writers who can dramatize the scene, Simon usually get local writers and authors to create the screenplay and vision of Simon’s view of the subject. The setup helps the authenticity of the show and Simon’s idea what a TV show should be.
David Simon’s vision also shape what he wants in real-life. Simon battles many topics from reform, school, drug wars, government, and the media. In all of the cases, Simon wants to show the decaying state of the police, the media, and the city and showing who is accountable to the struggles and how they’re messing it up. What Simon is asking who is going to stand up and take charge? In all of the situations, the broken system has made the situation worse and people are following the system, which is outdated. Essentially, the prisoners are controlling the asylum..
What David Simon is asking for is a leader and manager who has the onions for real change. He is showing that there are great people in dire times, but there are no leaders to provide guidance. David Simon is showing everyone how to not run an operation and hope your business (or city in this case) can limit your consequences.
For David Simon, the recipient of the Mel Kiper, Jr. Award and his hair (and Baltimore natives).
So you already know that the next recipient of the Pop Culture HR Award is a woman. Thank you for the suggestions. I review every woman suggested and every time I checked, this person popped up every time. I was trying to find a reason not to select her, but could not. Therefore, the fifth recipient of the Pop Culture HR Award is…
Looking at her career, Mary’s story parallels what the modern working woman are achieving. She had to struggle with unique roles such as an elf dancer for commercials as a teenager, until Carl Reiner discover her and ask her to be the character wife of Dick Van Dyke. She was in her 20s and became a popular figure with her looks, fashion and comedic timing. Her experience under Reiner and Van Dyke help thrust to her most famous role.
As Mary Richards, Moore created the first independent working woman in television who was a career driven woman, who is single. The character at the time was bold and refreshing and gave a show an edge of how would an independent woman reacts to certain situations. You know the show was great when you make Ed Asner’s character funny when the character is gruff and dramatic (hence Lou Grant being a dramatic series). The show was in the top 25 for six of the seven seasons (the last season was the only season out of the top 25) and being the pioneer of working women at work and entertainment.
After the Mary Tyler Moore Show ended, Moore tried many different things and the results are mixed. She starred in Ordinary People as Beth Jarrett. Although some people thought this could ruin Mary’s career as people were familiar with her in a comedic role, the movie critics and audience agreed Mary was great in the role and was nominated for Best Actress. In the 1980s, Mary wanted to make a comeback to TV in her own variety show and sitcom, but both failed. In the 90s, as she became older, she revealed her problems with alcohol and being diabetic. Currently, she’s the International Chairman for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International and an animal rights activist.
If it was not for her, we would not know what the working woman would look like today. Without Moore, would every woman have a secretary job, be a trophy wife, earn little to no income today? Gladly, we wouldn’t know the answer because of her. To Mary, she was a prophet, hence the statue in Minneapolis below.
Congrats Mary Tyler Moore on being the fifth recipient of the Pop Culture HR Award and everyone is going to make it after all!
If you been reading my Pop Culture HR Awards posts, you realize the four recipients are men. I can tell you the fifth recipient of the Pop Culture HR Award will be a woman. One problem: I don’t know which one. Women mostly dominate the HR field and for future installments I will put them, but this is special since this will be the first.
So calling all the HR professionals (ok anyone), please send to me on Twitter, email, or the comments section below who should be the first woman recipient of the Pop Culture HR Award. Please give me three specific reasons of why I should choose this woman and it must have an HR theme. Please submit by August 31 and the judging will be done by me. The winner will get…I haven’t decided yet: maybe a guest blog or free stress hockey pucks, or something else. The recipent will be announce after Labor Day Weekend.
It is time to handout the second Pop Culture HR Award. This is timely since this sector of the industry is going through changes and it has evolved into a money making machine for the companies in this industry. Although this person did not invent this sector, the person did revolutionize this sector that now every company in the industry has one. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the second recipient of the Pop Culture HR Award:
Johnny Carson you can say was the original HR Executive. You can dissect it in many ways:
Communications:
Johnny’s monologue would be a great opening week to motivate any employee if you’re down or way too happy. When he does something wrong, he’ll admit to it, but diverts the attention to something else quickly. During his time, he was the source to calm America down. His legendary monologue always brings comfort to people:
Project Management:
Johnny and his writers have to create new material everyday for 30 years, which is a lifetime today. It is hard to sustain it, but Johnny and staff manage through. One of their “projects” is the skits. Some projects fail, some last a long time. For this example, we go to Carnac:
Staffing:
What I like about Johnny Carson was that when he’s doing the interview, he will let you talk. You can tell it is a good story by crowd reaction and looking at his expressions that it was either funny, bring joy, or he wanted to get out. What Johnny wants was the guest to have their moment. Watch the second part of the interview with Jackie Gleason:
Not only it was a place for actor and regular guests, but a haven for comedians who wanted to make it big in Hollywood. Doing stand-up is a lonely place since you’re only person standing on stage and everyone is 10 feet away from you. There are two reactions that comedian knows that you passed the test: the crowd reaction and a call from the couch from Johnny. Johnny realizes in show business, standing there by yourself could be the loneliest feeling in the world, but when you earned the laughs from the audience and Johnny, you deserve to take a seat next to him. Here’s Drew Carey’s stand-up act. Listen to the audience and look at the end of the act:
It is also to note that we would not have a David Letterman, a Jon Stewart, a Conan O’Brien or a Craig Ferguson without Johnny Carson. Johnny made it his domain and when he left in 1992, he open the gates for every network to find the next Johnny, although no one will reach Johnny’s cultural impact…ever. (If you’re wondering, I did intentionally leave out one person and you know who that is.)
Although he had some personal problems, Johnny never displayed it when he was on the air. Simply, Johnny was the human resources for America’s entertainment. He knew who to go after, research, let people have their say and the most important thing: he communicated with people onstage and from afar with his monologues and jokes. If you can communicate and can back it up with your work, you are truly a great manager and leader. For the second recipient of the Pop Culture HR Award, here’s to you Johnny:
I already spent most of 2008 explaining my post on starting a new company. I’ll give a quick summary: the beginning of 2008 began slowly, but picked up during the middle of the year. At the end of the year, it stalled because of the economy and most companies are not hiring right now, so the business side is not what I hoped for but I’m going to patient about it since a business is a marathon (my family has a different view about it).
However, 2008 has been the most fun time I ever had. I got my first national TV appearance on C-SPAN from a book signing I attended. I have been attending more social events for the sake of business and friends. I went to my second trip (ever) outside the DC area to Chicago this past summer, attended my first two playoff games in DC, went to the 4th of July in DC, got partial season tickets for the Nationals (just want to see the new stadium and the Nats sucking), and partial season tickets for the best team in DC, the Caps.
Although my business was stagnant and left my last company at the end of summer, I’ve been doing a lot of blogging on this site since I left and felt a lot better sharing my feelings, ideas, sharing my point of view to the world. I feel like right now, you (the readers) are getting the real me. If I’m a co-worker or meet you for the first time, I tend to stay conservative since I don’t want to shock them or get fired. The internet has given me many opportunities to find old and new friends and open up a lot to many topics. If it wasn’t for the social media sites, I wouldn’t know how to create dialogue.
To sum this up; if you’re going to take this on a monetary basis, it was not a good year for me. Not because I made bad decisions, it was mere bad luck ( I blame W., Cheney, Adam Archuleta, the whole works). If you’re looking at this on a “spiritual” basis, this was the boldest, most fun, adventurous time I ever had. I also want people who got laid off or having problems, just look at your “spiritual” side and not monetary when reflecting in 2008 and find something to carry momentum into 2009.
For 2009, I can surely tell you that I won’t do anything bold or adventurous. Let me get this out of the way: losing weight in on the list and will probably continue to be until the end of time or when toning my body is feasible. I’m also going to save my money until either the economy becomes stable, either of my family members hit the lottery (a big thing in our family), or I hit the jackpot of something unexpected such as my company making $100K or someone wants my service other than HR. Probably the most fun I want to do in 2009 is actually I want to start to grow a beard. I think it will be cool to have a beard: shows comradery, people think you’re intelligent, and I would be a sexy beast (ok, sexy is too strong a word, but you get the point). I got the new hairdo this year, so why not a new image for next year?!
Finally, if there’s a chance, I would like to see my friends on the week of January 20 when the Inauguration of Obama comes that week and see their faces for the first time in a long time, which includes my high school and college friends, fellow NPR interns, Mr. Tony’s fansite group, and the HR bloggers. Also, if you’re wondering, I’m not going to split my blog into 5 different areas like many others have tried. What you see is what you get from this blog: all me, although I want nicknames (The Mr. Tony Group and my best friends are set, what about the others, hmm?). Also, I’m going to do a few more vlogs for the hell of it and write the topics that interest me: Me and Potpourri.
Nonetheless, there’s another saying that is climbing on this board that has been bothering me for a long time…”Getting the top (or best) talent.”If that statement were true today, here’s what would have happen:
·The New York Cosmos will still be dominating the NASL and soccer would be one of the top-tier sports.
·Ishtar – One of the greatest films of all-time.
·My beloved Washington Redskins are the team of the decade by winning 5 Super Bowls in 8 seasons (except 2001 when Tony Banks was our quarterback, 2006 where the Colts deserve the championship, and 2007).
·The 2007-08 New England Patriots:Best NFL Team Ever.
·The 2003-2004 Los Angeles Lakers will have to be in the top 3 teams of all-time with Shaq, Kobe, The Mailman, and The Glove.
·People flock to Houston with Enron, oil companies that have so much capital, and innovation to prevent flooding during hurricanes.
·The New York Yankees.Period.
·Finally, the United States is home of innovation and collaboration.
Of course, none of that happened (except for the New York Cosmos, but they spoiled it by bringing in big-name talent on their team and bankrupt the league).
The point is this should be a warning for recruiters of any business right now to assess their talent and to think of the future.The problem with most recruiters is they trust the resume they were giving, love the tone of the voice during the interview, and love of all the positive reviews from references.The new hire has this entire buzz, but a few months in, you realize the person is not bringing in much.For this, I would like to call these types of people, the Mike Mamulas (or for the current crowd, the Matt Joneses).They’re impressive when you talked and collaborate with them, but never executed when the actual work starts.
During these downtimes, this is where recruiters should make and really earn their money.A true recruiter should not rely on “Mel Kiper’s Big Draft Board” or “fantasy football magazines” to assist on selecting a new employee.They only serve as a reference.It must be a consensus between you and the division that is hiring, to pick not only that they are talented, but can be the right fit with the company and the co-workers. You have the information and a feel for the applicant, but the most important is do you want the position to have growth or an immediate position to replace the incumbent? What I’m saying is don’t try to take the safe bet of every position you hire.Try to be bold on a couple positions, but make sure you calculate the risks and make sure the hire is good not only for the short-term, but for the long haul.
Now, there will be superstars in the talent pool, but rarely, you see a natural superstar (i.e. Elway, LeBron in a sports theme) come by to your company and take it by his/her shoulders.Mostly superstars will generally come from the bottom-up with training and an extensive knowledge of the ins and outs of the company.However, in the age of “free agency,” it’s hard to retain talent for a long time.
So the moral of the story is don’t build a team around a bunch of superstars and egos, build a company that employees care and the depth of the company is deep that when a key employee leaves, someone internally can fill those shoes instantly.
First, how do you like the new design? Also, how do you like the new badges I’ve been figuring out for a few weeks? Site is now simple and easy to follow. Hope you enjoy, but onto better things: me.
1. The 2008 Presidential Election
Since I’ve discuss the Presidential election at length, there is more of the other stuff that happen other than the result:
CNN brought out their newest technological innovation…the hologram. I could go with a Star Wars, Star Trek, or a Mortal Kombat joke. Everything has been taken. But if you want innovation from CNN, it’s here.
Kind of sad that Jon Stewart was the first person to call the election. Though everyone knew when Ohio was called for Obama, it was over.
This leads to the next few years when Jon Stewart’s contract expires. The next four are going to be interesting as we have a serious president. Yes, there are some jokes available, but when network late night is calling for $30-40 million per year, it’s hard to turn that down. The late night wars get interesting again.
Note to networks: Train your analysts how to use the touchboard. Two years my friends, there’s plenty of time to train.
Saturday Night Live had a great year during the campaign. Now, they’re back to sucking without one of their key players in Amy Poehler.
NBC had the best all-around performance: Their newscast, their commentators, SNL. Still, Ben Silverman still has a job because he brought Knight Rider into our lives again.
Prediction: FAUX News will still be at top of the cable news networks because the South watches a lot of TV that relate to them. However, their power has been diminished significantly.
If you want to know how can an Obama administration is changing, look at today’s events. Tons of people protesting to say no to Prop 8 in California after voters pass the proposition. Now, people from all sides are joining the effort, either rain or shine, to want equality to all and that’s cool.
Somebody didn’t listen to Peter Schiff. Here comes the Ron Paulites mocking everyone else:
The loser of the election…Neoconservatives and the newspaper industry. They are tried their best (depending on your view), but did not get the result they want.
If you don’t know who Tony Reali is; he’s “Stat Boy” of Pardon the Interruption and host of Around the Horn. For the first few years, he meshes great with Tony and Mike. I also give him credit for bring ATH some respectability, but not that much. However, he’s kind of rubbing some the wrong way. My first indication was when I interned at NPR, I saw him a couple of times along Chinatown and he carries a water bottle, but he doesn’t hold it on his hand, he puts it on his back pocket. I find it gross, but it didn’t give me any indication of future outcomes. Then, on the last Halloween show on PTI, he never dressed up and everyone else did. Some are split that wearing that Halloween is a kids holiday. I can understand that, but his tone seemed obnoxious while saying “I’m an adult.” Also, Luke Russert wore a Buffalo Bills jersey and all Reali wears is a sports jacket and a muscle shirt? And he mocks Tony and Mike about their wardrobe allowance?
However, the top indication Reali has change is two words: [The name that shall be nameless]. It’s odd that [The name that shall be nameless] is winning a lot from Reali hosting. Doesn’t Reali know he’s reading from cue cards when he makes his “points.” Then, Dan Levy had an interview with Reali and this was very telling:
Rick Telander doesn’t count because he has the same qualities as [The name that shall be nameless], but he’s more inclusive. However, if Roger Ebert writes an open letter about [The name that shall be nameless] and you still think he’s good, then you’re Ben Lyons.
There could be many reasons why Reali is like this right now:
He’s a newlywed.
[The name that shall be nameless] paying him off.
Wants to be the next Michael Phelps (not for the gold, for other stuff).
He’s jealous of Nate Silver’s success since Nate is now the true “Stat Man.”
I’ll take the latter.
3. Pushing Daisies
You know I’m a big fan of Pushing Daisies by doing some live-blogging when the show airs to get 3 or 4 additional viewers. You all heard the news is ABC told production to stop at Episode 13, and then let’s see how it goes. I can tell you what’s going to happen; enjoy the last 8 episodes. It’s odd that Knight Rider will survive and not this genius show. Really people?!!!
4. Holiday Music
Yes, the holidays are coming, but I must tell one of my pet peeves right now: Playing holiday music before Thanksgiving or Halloween, depending where you live. I know people are excited for the holidays, but take it one holiday at a time. Right now, I want commercials and shows that are based on turkeys, the right recipes and if a tofu turkey is delicious. Worry about the holiday season after the Thanksgiving Day Parade is over. This year, you can start early since the traditional Thanksgiving football games suck this year. Then, you can bust the holiday music. Next time, I’ll bring my holiday music mix.
5. Cash commercials
What is up with the numerous commercials from Cashpoint and Cash4Gold? By the way, how you know if it’s a bad commercial: If someone is driving the car, and waving cash out the window, in front of a camera, it’s called a Beatdown Situation.
6. Bacon beats Fries
Personally, Fries kills Bacon in all categories. Bacon is great in breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Bacon is versatile and tasty. You can add as a great condiment as well. Bacon is a wonderful all-around performer. However, Fries is a once-in-a-lifetime performer. Can do all the functions bacon does, but more diverse, versatile, and can handle a variety of dipping sauces. Also, it doesn’t want to discriminate; it can go skinny or obese. You can’t stop the Fries.
