Last week, I had the opportunity to return to my alma mater at Michigan State University (MSU) and speak with a group of students who are currently pursuing their Masters Degrees in Labor and Industrial Relations (SLIR).  What a terrific group of students!

Another consultant on our team who is also an MSU SLIR grad, Deanna Wilson, and I spoke for nearly 90 minutes. Our goal was to share our stories of how we came to be where we are today, what our paths have been since we graduated from MSU, and what we have learned along the way.

Opportunities like this are always intended to be ‘for the benefit’ of the students to learn from the ‘more seasoned and experienced’ professional, but it’s been my experience that I often feel I get more from the group than I give. How often do we take the time to reflect on ‘how we got to where we are’? Answering questions forced us to do just that. 

Certain themes started to emerge as we discussed not only our paths and what we credited with our ‘success’ but also as we highlighted the leadership model that we have developed after completing countless leadership assessments worldwide (for more on this leadership model visit, http://ishrgroup.com/hr-leadership-consulting/the-ishr-leadership-model).

Deanna and I felt very ‘parental’ as we dispensed our advice about the importance of building and maintaining valid relationships with people.  The tools of social media (like Facebook & LinkedIn) enable us to stay connected more than ever before with less effort than ever before which is fantastic, yet we emphasized the need to remain diligent in staying connected through more personal contacts and connection opportunities as well. There is still something very meaningful about receiving a personal phone call or a hand-written note to ‘connect’ with someone.

We also commented on our experience that it is a really small world out there.  Building and preserving your reputation is critical.  It’s amazing how far having a solid reputation (for integrity, honesty, fairness, respect, hard work, etc.) will take you.  People will make big decisions (such as taking a chance on hiring you) based solely on reputation.  It’s amazing how quickly a reputation can be destroyed.  People will make big decisions (such as making the decision to not hire you) based solely on reputation.

By the end of our session with the students, Deanna and I hadn’t shared the latest and greatest in HR strategy, nor the cutting edge tools of HRIS, but we had shared some perspective from our hearts that we trust the students found valuable.

What do you think?

By the way, MSU made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament and faces Northern Iowa on Friday.  Go Spartans!