Ron Thomas

Ron Thomas is a Human Resources Officer currently based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He formerly was Director, Talent and Human Resources Solutions at Buck Consultants (a Xerox Company) and is certified by the Human Capital Institute as a Master Human Capital Strategist (MHCS) and Strategic Workforce Planner (SWP). He's also worked in senior HR roles with Martha Stewart Living and IBM. Ron serves on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, McKinsey Quarterly Executive Online Panel, and HCI's Expert Advisory Council on Talent Management Strategy. He also serves as a Faculty Partner and Executive Facilitator at the Human Capital Institute. He has received the Outstanding Leadership Award for Global HR Excellence by the World Human Resource Development Congress in Mumbai. Contact him at ronaldtthomas@gmail.com, or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Ronald_thomas.

Articles by Ron Thomas

Recruiting and Staffing

Today’s Job Search: What It Takes to Get to the Top of the Pile

by Ron Thomas on May 20, 2013, 10:25 AM | No comments yet

A job search today is not your Mother or Father’s job search

“I have some ideas as to how I am going to approach this and would like for you to take a look and give me your thoughts. My response was as usual, “talk to me first as to what you are thinking and then send me your draft [s].”

The lady I was helping methodically walked me through her thought process and how she was going to take it and transfer it to marketing collateral.

I realized after hanging up that a job search today is beyond anything that we have ever witnessed in years past. The day of just sending out a generic resume is a thing of the past. There is an entire cottage industry that has been built around resumes and LinkedIn bios. Read more…

Culture

Dealing With a New Company Culture: Do you Compromise, or Adjust?

by Ron Thomas on May 13, 2013, 7:00 AM | 1 comment

How are you going to deal with a new culture? Do you think the leadership style in another country will make a difference? I know that you can be very opinionated, but you may need to tone it down in another country.

Questions about workplace culture have always intrigued me. What is a successful model so that you are accepted into a new environment?

What if you are rejected? How can you get a sense up front to make the changes to increase your chance of success? What will you have to give up — and what will they have to give up?

These are all interesting questions, and they are all relevant. Read more…

HR Insights

HR Leader Spot in the Middle East? It’s Just Another Check on My Bucket List

by Ron Thomas on May 6, 2013, 7:00 AM | 2 Comments

I applaud you for having the gumption to make this move. Are you are really going to do that?

Are you kidding me? You aren’t afraid to move to another country?

Moving to the Middle East? Bon Voyage, I am so happy for you.

All these comments came up over the past month as I completed — yes, completed! — my career bucket list.

I had always wanted a CHRO (chief human resources officer) role since the day I got involved in HR. My other checkpoint was that I wanted to live life as an expat. Read more…

HR Insights, HR Management

PowerPoint Hell: Why Do We Put Up With 70 Slide Presentations?

by Ron Thomas on Apr 29, 2013, 7:00 AM | 4 Comments

“We spent literally an hour trying to decide which whether the to use a period, capital letters, or the size of the boxes in the presentation. All this discussion went back and forth for so long that I could not believe we could waste all this time on something so trivial. But then again, all of our prep meeting are like this. It seems more time is spent on this than the actual content.”

As my friend told me this, I could just see her stomach churning as she was regretting going into work for the prep session for yet another monstrous deck.

I had lunch with a CHRO friend of mine last week when she told me the story of a vendor presenting a 70 plus PowerPoint slide deck. By the time they were finished, everyone was just plain exhausted and worn out.

But did they get they content right? Well, yes and no. Read more…

HR Insights, Talent Management

The Battle For Top Talent: Will Your Workforce Policies Pass the Smell Test?

by Ron Thomas on Apr 22, 2013, 7:00 AM | 2 Comments

“You mean to tell me that you tried to forbid someone to look for a job for two years until the program that they are in is completed? Are you guys nuts?”

That was my reaction to an article concerning Morgan Stanley’s ill-fated program to lock in junior level employees, at least until they had completed their two year analyst program. On top of that, this was a pledge that they had to sign.

I picked up the phone and called a friend who worked there and we both kind of shook our head. He felt the same way as I did. He said the company wanted to keep these folks under lock and key so they could watch their investment. Read more…

Talent Management, Training & Development

Staying Relevant: Either We Continually Adapt, or We End Up Obsolete

by Ron Thomas on Apr 15, 2013, 8:10 AM | No comments yet

The headline in USA Today blared Columbia flunks relevancy test.

Columbia University’s Journalism School just appointed a new dean. The uproar was astounding, to say the least.

The new dean’s “alleged crime” is that he comes from a background of print [think newspapers and magazines] and he is taking over the training ground for the next generation of journalists whose skill set has changed.

This new dean (his name is Steve Coll, an author and former Washington Post managing editor), and while having impeccable credentials, he is not versed in social media and reportedly does not have a Twitter account. Read more…

Leadership, Talent Management

Engaging Employees: Don’t Overlook That They’re Your Greatest Experts

by Ron Thomas on Apr 8, 2013, 7:00 AM | No comments yet

“We need to have a discussion on your work ethic.”

This message was the response sent in reference to an email that was mailed at 9:20 pm on a recent evening. The receipient was still at her desk toiling away. The sender, her boss, was already home.

When I saw this woman a few days later, I asked her to tell me about the work ethic conversation her manager mentioned. She said, in a matter of fact manner, “Oh, she does not want me working that late every night.”

Nothing was mentioned about the department being short one person, or, that the one person they were short had left because of long hours. Read more…

Culture, HR Insights

Doing the Right Thing Is Always the Right Thing

by Ron Thomas on Apr 1, 2013, 7:00 AM | No comments yet

Even though she didn’t put in the $20, the crew at Keller Williams decided to kick in a bit of their winnings — they won’t say how much.

“As a team, we put together a fat pile of money,” Finkelstein Reader said. “If we do the right thing and always care about other people, the right thing will happen to us.”

Those were the remarks from a realtor at Keller Williams concerning their good fortune of winning 2nd place in the recent lottery – which just so happened to be a cool $1 million. By now we have all heard about the winner of the top prize, but 2nd place provided for me a more compelling story about human nature. Read more…

Culture, Leadership

You Can’t Solve Today’s Problems With Yesterday’s Solutions

by Ron Thomas on Mar 25, 2013, 7:00 AM | 2 Comments

“Twenty-first century leaders might benefit from thinking of themselves as being in the center of a web rather than on top of a pyramid” — Dr. Ben Dattner.

When I read that statement over at Smart Brief as their quote of the day, I was pleasantly surprised to see my good friend Dr. Dattner being quoted.

He is a nationally known organizational psychologist that I have worked with numerous times over the years. His recent book, The Blame Game, is centered around two words that causes so much angst in an organization: the dynamics of credit and blame that is percolating 24/7. Read more…

HR Insights

4 Steps to Career Success and Fulfilling That Longtime Dream

by Ron Thomas on Mar 18, 2013, 8:10 AM | No comments yet

When did you know?

“When I caught that pass and realized that I was about to score a touchdown, that is when I knew. I have replayed this scenario numerous times since the time I was a kid playing in my front yard. Now I am in the Super Bowl and it is happening”

A Hall of Fame pro football player was recounting his childhood dream and how it all came true. Read more…