I Hate HR

Over the weekend I attending a training by Patrick Wright entitled “HR Leadership.” I feared that this would be another boring discussion about HR stepping up to the table. Can any HR professional stand another discussion about HR having a seat at the table?

The most interesting part of the presentation was Wright’s dicussion about management of CEOs. How many times in recent years have we heard stories about CEOs making bad business decisions and still walking away with a golden parachute?

Wright argued that these people were not bad people and not necessarily bad businessmen. It is out of control ego and pride that cause them to make bad decisions based on opportunism and hubris. It is the job of HR to guard against human frailties. To find a way to speak to leadership entranced with greed and to bring them back.

Unfortunately we didn’t get into a discussion about how HR was supposed to make that happen. How is anyone supposed to stop someone when they have caught the bug of greed? Are we doomed to continue making these mistakes?