The host introduced me to them as the "HR professional who knows most about web 2.0 in India" and the conversation soon turned to "oh, I always wanted to blog but I think it's a generational thing - I just can't get round to blogging or Tweeting"
Normally I smile politely (taking the compliment that I am "young" ;-) in my stride) but yesterday I decided to take a different track. So I said "No it's not a generational thing"
"What do you mean?"
"Well if Tom Peters (@tom_peters) in the US and Sivakumar Surampudi (@s_sivakumar) CEO of India's very own ITC ABD can Tweet and Blog - what's your excuse. And they're not exactly generation Y :-)"
And I quoted @rotkapchen who said in @marciamarcia's book that "Status updates are to the knowledge firms what the assembly lines are to manufacturing firms"
I then shared my view that soon organizational firewalls will melt away and the only way to manage in the coming age would be to nurture employees into becoming advocates for both your employer brand as well as your product brands.
Then I asked the folks if they had heard of Zappos - and when they said they hadn't - I told them that they should read the @zappos CEO's book - Delivering Happiness
( my review here) - in which he says "Culture is the brand - and the brand is the culture"There is no greater call to HR leaders to be integral to the business than that!
