HR and the Movies

HR and the Movies

The Movie Ted? It’s a Wake-Up Call for HR to Start Fulfilling Its Potential

by on Feb 22, 2013, 9:13 AM  |  6 Comments
Ted_poster

Editor’s Note: With the Academy Awards drawing near, TLNT again asked some prominent thought leaders to write about their favorite movie from this past year with a HR or talent management theme. We’ll feature one each day leading up to the Oscars ceremony on Feb. 24.

If wishing made it so…

The movie Ted sucks. Not because it wasn’t funny. It was, in parts.

No, Ted sucks because we must evaluate it against its potential. Seth MacFarlane + R rating = holy crap. This is going to be wheels-off funny.

It wasn’t. The best parts of the film are all in the trailer. Damn, I hate it when Hollywood screws me over like that. Read more…

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HR and the Movies

Zero Dark Thirty: Driving to a Goal by Challenging the Status Quo

by on Feb 21, 2013, 9:13 AM  |  3 Comments
ZeroDarkThirty

Editor’s Note: With the Academy Awards drawing near, TLNT again asked some prominent thought leaders to write about their favorite movie from this past year with a HR or talent management theme. We’ll feature one each day leading up to the Oscars ceremony on Feb. 24.

By Patti Johnson

Zero Dark Thirty isn’t just about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Even if you haven’t seen this Best Picture-nominated film, you already know the climax of the story. But, you don’t know about Maya, a CIA operative who was obsessed with finding bin Laden to the exclusion of everything else.

Zero Dark Thirty is her story, too. Read more…

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HR and the Movies, HR Insights

What HR Can Learn From Ben Affleck: Grace, Professionalism, and Argo

by on Feb 20, 2013, 9:12 AM  |  1 comment
Argo

Editor’s Note: With the Academy Awards drawing near, TLNT again asked some prominent thought leaders to write about their favorite movie from this past year with a HR or talent management theme. We’ll feature one each day leading up to the Oscars ceremony on Feb. 24.

By China Gorman

HR is like Ben Affleck and Argo? Well, yeah.

Since Argo is based on a true story, we knew the ending before the movie even started. And it is a tribute to the director, Ben Affleck, that we were sitting on the edge of our seats as the story was coming to an end.

HR is a lot like that sometimes. HR pros can predict the outcomes of investigations, counseling sessions, new compensation plan rollouts, and open enrollment. But, they still have to go through the processes involved and keep an open mind. Read more…

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HR and the Movies

From Red Flags in Employee Handbooks to Django Unchained

by on Feb 19, 2013, 9:13 AM  |  No comments yet
django-unchained1

Editor’s Note: With the Academy Awards drawing near, TLNT again asked some prominent thought leaders to write about their favorite movie from this past year with a HR or talent management theme. We’ll feature one each day leading up to the Oscars ceremony on Feb. 24.

By Eric B. Meyer

Let’s dispense with the obvious HR lesson from Django Unchained.

According to TMZ.com — and I can actually feel you judging me; my head is literally throbbing – the word “nigger” is used 110 times in the film.

Unless your workplace is the set of Django Unchained, or possibly this one, your company should not permit employees to use racial slurs with impunity. Read more…

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HR and the Movies

The Avengers: Sometimes, It’s About Building a High-Performing Team

by on Feb 18, 2013, 9:13 AM  |  1 comment
Avengers

Editor’s Note: With the Academy Awards drawing near, TLNT again asked some prominent thought leaders to write about their favorite movie from this past year with a HR or talent management theme. We’ll feature one each day leading up to the Oscars ceremony on Feb. 24.

By Kimberlee Morrison

In the realm of action movies, The Avengers from the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be remembered as one of the greatest. With its cast of superstars as superheroes, The Avengers is one of few movies that has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

And who doesn’t love a classic tale of good versus evil?

But, it’s also a tale about putting together a high-performing team. Read more…

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HR and the Movies

Total Recall, 2012 Edition: Do You Recognize This Workplace?

by on Sep 6, 2012, 12:15 PM  |  No comments yet
TotalRecall

Editor’s note: We asked a number of writers to take a look at the movies from the summer of 2012 with an HR or talent management theme. Bob Duffy was the first to weigh in on the remake of  Total Recall.

Just when you thought you had forgotten the gubernator’s Total Recall of 1990, back it comes, re-envisioned for 2012 with Colin Farrell in the lead.

Chock-a-block with familiar sci-fi/gamer conventions, this Recall’s setting is bleakly post-apocalyptic, with a color spectrum that ranges from brown to dark gray. No blue skies, and absolutely no green anything. If you’re of the Comic-Con persuasion, this telegraphs immediately what we’re in for — moral and physical desolation, and lots of lightning-strike, barely motivated violence. Read more…

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HR and the Movies, Recruiting and Staffing

Staffing Firm’s Lead HR on Inc.’s List of Fastest Growing Companies

by on Aug 26, 2011, 7:37 AM  |  No comments yet
Illustration by istockphoto.com

From the giant IPO-bound staffing firm Staffmark Holdings, to Indianapolis’ 14-person HR services firm FlashPoint, 156 self-described human resource companies made the annual Inc. magazine list of the 5,000 fastest growing businesses in the U.S.

Inc. ranks the companies, all privately held, by growth rate; the faster revenue increased over three years, the higher the company ranks. By that measure, HR staffing and services firm Nextaff was first among the HR companies that volunteered to participate. (Participation requires companies to divulge annual revenue, employee counts and growth, etc. Only some companies are willing to publicize that kind of proprietary information.)

Nextaff reported 2010 revenue of $72.1 million, a 1,167 percent jump over the last three years. In 2007, the company reported it generated $5.7 million with only nine employees. Now it has 12. Read more…

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HR and the Movies

Your Sanity is Not For Sale: Some Lessons From Office Space

by on Feb 25, 2011, 10:20 AM  |  1 comment
OFFICE SPACE

Editor’s Note: With the Academy Awards nearly here, TLNT asked a number of thought leaders to reflect on their favorite movie with a management or HR theme. This is the final one in our series.

By Lance Haun

One of my first exposures to corporate life was the movie Office Space. When the movie was released, I was about 18 and I thought it was probably a good example of what corporate life would be like. Now call me a cynic for thinking this would be life in the corporate grind but tell me if parts of the movie don’t sound familiar:

  • Multiple bosses with redundant responsibilities.
  • Workplace efficiency consultants who help weed out employees and outsource functions.
  • Management disconnect from the employees and fear of confrontation.
  • Lame office parties and strict dress codes for customer-facing employees.

I know. It doesn’t sound like anything from Corporate America, right? But what did I learn then that I could apply to HR and my career now?

Read more…

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HR and the Movies

HR Lessons and Trickle Down Leadership in The Devil Wears Prada

by on Feb 24, 2011, 9:57 AM  |  1 comment
devil-wears-prada

Editor’s Note: With the Academy Awards taking place Sunday, TLNT asked  some thought leaders to write about their favorite movie with a management or HR theme. We’ll feature these up to the Oscar ceremony on Feb. 27.

By Ron Thomas

“Don’t be ridiculous, everyone wants this,” Editor-in-Chief Miranda coolly stated as she rode through the beautiful streets of Paris in her chauffeur driven S Class Mercedes. The CEO stated in the elevator that “a million girls would kill for that job.”

This was the brand as they saw it in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada.” This was the brand that Andy (played by Anne Hathaway) saw and most definitely the brand that the gatekeepers in HR kept in mind when they decided who could come to interview.

This movie has HR footprints all over it, from branding, recruiting, employee engagement, management dysfunction, succession planning, leadership, mentorship. All the ills of the organization are woven through the narrative of a movie about a young college graduate getting her first job. She’s all wild eyed and eager  – until she is thrown into this sink or swim playground. Read more…

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HR and the Movies

Lawrence of Arabia: The Art of Leadership From the Back of a Camel

by on Feb 23, 2011, 10:15 AM  |  2 Comments
lawrence101

Editor’s Note: With the Academy Awards nearly here, TLNT asked some prominent thought leaders to reflect on their favorite movie with a management or HR theme. We’ll feature one a day up to the Oscar ceremony on Feb. 27.

By John Hollon

If there is anything we’re really lacking today, it’s someone with insightful leadership, smart and sensitive management skills, and a deep understand of (and commitment to) diversity in the workplace.

Yes, we need someone like Lawrence of Arabia.

The great 1962 movie, directed by director David Lean (he also directed classics like Bridge on the River Kwai and Dr. Zhivago), won Best Picture that year, and rightly so, because it does a first-class job of depicting how T.E. Lawrence, a young and somewhat inexperienced British Army lieutenant, pretty much singled-handedly rallied a nearly unmanageable group of squabbling Bedouin tribes together into an army that carried out the World War I “Arab Revolt” against the Turks.

You might call it, “the art of leadership from the back of a camel.”

Read more…

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