ILSHRM14 - Shaping the Future of HR

I cannot believe it is 2014.  It is mind boggling to me how fast time goes as we get older.

It's also mind boggling how fast things change.

Our profession is not what it was 20 years ago. I'm going to say that it isn't even what it was 10 years ago. 

We are different. Better. Evolved.

Sort of.

We are more entrenched in our businesses than we ever have been and yet.....we aren't.

We understand the importance of being a business partner more than ever before and yet....we don't.

It's not the same for everyone, but some of us are stuck. We are stuck in between who we were and who the business now needs us to be.

It's only going to get worse.

Business is changing and with that we have to change. We have to think about what will be expected of us in the future and adapt quickly.

It is my hope that this year's ILSHRM conference will help.

The theme is Shaping the Future of HR and everything from the pre-conference workshop to the keynotes to the Monday night mixer is going to focus on preparing each of us for what future business expects of us.

It's going to be awesome (if I do say so myself).

Let me introduce you to our keynotes:

Jeff Lanza is an award-winning, nationally known speaker whose career as an FBI Special Agent has fueled his passion for helping people and organizations. He will be speaking on Leadership Ethics: How to Ensure a Future of Employee and Corporate Integrity.

Jennifer McClure is President of Unbridled Talent LLC, a consulting and advisory firm providing services to clients in the areas of recruiting & human resources strategy, employment branding and leadership/career development. Jennifer will be sharing her very popular keynote, The Future of HR: Delivering Competitive Advantage Through Innovative People Strategies 

Jim Knight cut his teeth in the training field in the Hospitality industry, starting out as a restaurant staff-level employee for Olive Garden and Hard Rock Café. He eventually became the head of the School of Hard Rocks, running point on all training & development functions for Hard Rock International. As you would expect from someone who spent years at Hard Rock, Jim will be talking to us about Culture that Rocks!

I didn't do three J's on purpose, but that's kind of cool. With our MC John Hudson in the mix it's the perfect superfecta! 

Now for the pre-conference workshop.

You might remember Joe Gerstandt from the times he has keynoted with his Talent Anarchy partner Jason Lauritson. Joe is the bald one. Well this time he is partnering up with Doug Shaw an enchanting bloke from London to offer a three hour workshop that is going to stretch our minds in ways HR professionals are not accustomed to.

They will be presenting the Art of Leadership and when I say art I am not being theoretical. They literally mean art. Doug and Joe are going to help us tap into our creativity and apply new techniques to aid in creative thinking and problem solving. They also plan to show us how creativity can help us in our succession planning and development of employees.

Seriously, I cannot do it justice in a blog post. I'm going to see if I can't get these guys to tape a short video for us explaining what they are up to. Leave them a note in the comments if you would like that!

So there you have the ILSHRM14 updates for now. Lots, lots more to come in the upcoming weeks. 

I hope you are planning on joining us August 3-5 in Oakbrook. If you weren't, hopefully this blog post has changed your mind. To register click here.

See you soon!

Sabrina