Ron Thomas

Ron Thomas is a Principal at StrategyFocusedHR, a strategic human resources consultancy based in New York. He is certified by the Human Capital Institute as a Master Human Capital Strategist (MHCS) and Strategic Workforce Planner (SWP). He's worked in senior level HR roles with Martha Stewart Living and IBM. Ron serves on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, McKinsey Quarterly Executive Online Panel, and the Human Capital institute's Expert Advisory Council on Talent Management Strategy. He also serves as a Faculty Partner and Executive Facilitator at the Human Capital Institute. Contact him at ronaldtthomas@gmail.com, or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Ronald_thomas.

Articles by Ron Thomas

HR Management, Talent Management

Everyone Wins When You Help Get Employees Into the Value Zone

by on Mar 12, 2012, 7:45 AM  |  1 comment
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One of the things I love about being in HR is that everyone always bring you these rich stories that sometimes causes you to have an “a-ha” moment.

A major retail chain this past week did something that, for a retail company, needs to be lauded. In retail, you have a workforce that is largely made up of hourly employees. They are the people that face the customers each and every day. Good mood or bad mood, they must keep the stiff upper lip and remember that the “customer is always right.”

One of the challenges all retail companies face is the weekly schedule. Trying to place people in slots, or work around challenges in their lives, is an enormous uphill battle both for the manager as well as the employee. I owned a 7-Eleven convenience store for 10 years, so I am very familiar with this weekly challenge. I had 11 people on the payroll, and trust me, it is a challenge. Read more…

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Leadership, Talent Management

What Great Leaders Know: It’s About Getting the Right People on the Bus

by on Mar 5, 2012, 7:45 AM  |  1 comment
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I have been to the mountaintop.

This past week, I was in Austin, Texas for TLNT Transform, which was billed as a new type HR conference. While not a presenter, I served as conference chair. This allowed me to not only sit in on all the presentations, but it gave me insight into all the speakers since part of my role was to introduce each speaker and to get some insight into their presentation.

From the moment I entered the doors of HR, I always felt that more could be done within the role that could benefit the organization. I say that based on other roles within the company. Marketing, Finance and IT were all not only structurally defined but had a unique role in their organization’s strategy. Read more…

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Leadership, Talent Management

Diversity: It’s Good For Business, the Workplace, and All of Our Lives

by on Feb 21, 2012, 7:45 AM  |  1 comment
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It’s OK if the formula does not make sense.

I have watched with amusement these past few weeks the reaction in the sports world to the phenomenon called Jeremy Lin.

Not being much of a sports fan (especially basketball), I had to delve a little deeper than the normal fan. Chinese-American and Harvard-educated does not normally equal star in the NBA — or at least, that would have been the thinking before Lin.

But it goes back to show how we humans have certain mindsets, and how we have all painted our own picture of what utopia would look like. Read more…

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Talent Management

Do You Know “When” It’s Time to Go? Here Are 8 Tell-Tale Signs

by on Feb 13, 2012, 7:45 AM  |  1 comment
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How do you know “when?”

When I went away to college, my father told me that if you are thinking of getting married, college is the perfect place to find a wife. Since he had been right about everything else in life, I took his advice.

Six months in I saw a young lady across campus and I knew then that she was the one. Fast forward, two kids later, and I knew it was the best decision I had ever made.

On one of my previous jobs, employee morale had sunk to such a low point that it was almost unbearable to go to work. My dream job had morphed into an atmosphere that was unrecognizable. In both of these situations, I knew “when.” Read more…

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HR Insights

Giving Hope For All Those Impacted by the Social Media Onslaught

by on Feb 6, 2012, 7:40 AM  |  No comments yet
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Last Saturday, I was an invited guest on a panel discussion during Social Media Weekend at Columbia University.

This is their second annual Social Media Weekend hosted by Prof. Sree Sreenivasan, Dean of Student Affairs, and a big social media fan. My panel guest were Maggie Mistal, nationally known career coach and former co-worker, along with David Gaspin, Head of Talent Acquisition at the Ladders. The name of our panel was “Social Media and Job Search.”

The weekend consisted of workshops, panels and keynotes to help journalists, media professionals and others understand social media. Our current crop of social media tools are talked about constantly and get a lot of press. Read more…

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HR Insights, Training & Development

The Quest for Excellence: It’s Why Learning Never, Ever Ends

by on Jan 30, 2012, 7:45 AM  |  No comments yet
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“I will be glad when this is all over. I will never have to study anything anymore.”

That was a statement from my daughter during finals week in her senior year of college at Penn State. She sounded worn out. As I listened on the other end of the phone, I looked at my watch and realized it was too late to respond to that. I knew she was not in the mood to be receptive.

Last week, I was in Pittsburgh leading two seminars for the Human Capital Institute (I am a faculty member). As I spoke, I kept emphasizing the need for constant learning.

As I thought of that statement I realized the model for professional learning and development has changed tremendously. There once was a time when I would choose to attend a couple of learning events per year. When I returned from them, the vast majority of the time the courseware would eventually end up in the credenza in my office. Read more…

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Leadership, Talent Management

Managing Talent: Why You Should Treat it Like a Marketing Portfolio

by on Jan 23, 2012, 7:45 AM  |  2 Comments
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How defined is your brand?

“I have always believed that great brands are built on improving the lives of the people they serve; I wanted to prove that maximum profit and high ideals aren’t incompatible but, in fact, inseparable,” said Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer of Proctor & Gamble and author of GROW.

While reading a recent issue of Advertising Age, I came across an interesting article about branding — not from a qualitative state but from an analytical and quantitative approach. The article was based on work done by Stengel (along with Millward Brown) identifying the 50 fastest growing brands in terms of value and consumer preference.

They designed an analytical, rigorous method that tested corporate ideals as the core of an organization’s success. Their findings were called the Stengel 50 — brands that built the deepest relationships with customers and achieved the greatest financial growth from 2001-2011. Read more…

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Talent Management

Passion & Drive: They’re the Game Changers For Top Performers

by on Jan 17, 2012, 7:47 AM  |  1 comment
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“It would not be enough to keep you interested.”

That statement was told to me by a dear friend who had interviewed with a non-profit and was told this was the reason that she would not be hired. Say what?

When you are in HR you get calls all the time since you are the “resident expert in all things HR” (their words not mine). I had to tell her that this is the first time in my career that I had ever heard that one. She is an accomplished HR consultant who has an excellent career. Read more…

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HR Insights, Talent Management

Can You Hear Me Now? The Impact of Social Media on Your Workforce

by on Jan 9, 2012, 7:42 AM  |  1 comment
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Can you hear me now?

That ubiquitous phrase made famous by Verizon became quite apropos at the end of 2011. After the most embarrassing debacle in history of marketing/pricing, Verizon was forced to backtrack, put their tail between their legs, and somberly walk away from what they thought would be another revenue steam.

Netflix was faced with the same situation in mid-2011.

What was the major connector to both of these events? What was the determining factor that drove them to make an immediate u-turn? The answer: social media. Read more…

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HR Management, Leadership

What to Ask as You Start 2012: Why Would Somebody Work For You?

by on Jan 3, 2012, 7:42 AM  |  No comments yet
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As we enter the doors of 2012, the prognosticators have all given their respective thoughts on what is coming into focus for the year.

These are all great readings, but if you have survived these past few years of economic turmoil (and the aftermath), you know that, really, who knows?

All organizations have basically put together their various strategies for either getting back into the game, moving to the next level, or something similar. Some of those strategies will be called into focus as the year progresses. Think Verizon and their slogan —  “Can you hear me now?”

As I read Sunday’s New York Times, there was an article that encapsulated IBM strategy that was devised by Samuel J. Palmisano, who is departing as IBM’s chief. In the article, Palmisano mentioned that he focused on four key questions to drive strategy and growth when he took the helm of IBM. Read more…

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