Wow, the online HR community has been active lately with lists featuring influential people in the HR Community. Sites like HR Examiner’s Top 25 Digital HR Influencers and Monster’s Top 10 Employment Bloggers lists have set the blogging community afire with cheers, jeers and comments aplenty. Seems everyone loves to hate these lists. . .or is it they hate to love these lists?
I won’t pretend to know who’s influential in the digital HR world, but I can tell you who’s influential on The People Equation. I’m taking a page from Ben Eubanks of UpstartHR by trolling my WordPress stats for some interesting scoop about my blog readers; in particular, those who regularly comment on the site. These folks are consistent contributors to my blog and the larger social media world as well. They’ve influenced me to think bigger, give back, and keep going. Give them a look; maybe they’ll do the same for you.
So here they are, the awards for the 2009 People Equation Influencers:
Best Sense of Humor: Mike Krupa. I met Mike via Twitter and immediately took to his witty tweets. He’s a Technical Director for HR Systems of a large company and my go-to guy for finding out the latest and greatest in the tech world. Most of my conversations with Mike occur behind the private shroud of Twitter’s Direct Message feature, so you may not see his stealthy, wicked humor like I do. But when he does show up on The People Equation, his comments are smart, relevant, and yes, funny.
Biggest Thinker: Mike Henry. Mike formed the Lead Change group on Linked In earlier this year, and boy, has it taken flight. Last time I checked, there were over 500 members and growing. The group’s purpose is to support those wanting to promote character-driven leadership. Mike has attracted an amazingly diverse group of followers, all committed to leadership in some way. Mike also writes the blog The Lead Change Group, full of insightful posts about leadership.
Biggest Heart: Deirdre Honner. As an Associate Director of HR at a college, Dee is a great source of up-to-date HR information, which she shares openly and willingly. Case in point: this past fall, she hosted several gratis job-search workshops and she’s a volunteer with JobAngels. She also blogs at The HR Maven, sharing nuggets of wisdom and showcasing her no-nonsense style served up with a good dose of humor. Dee has been steadfast in her participation on the People Equation, providing supportive comments througout the blog’s young life.
Introverted Influencer: Lisa Rosendahl. Lisa was named on the Top 25 Influencers mentioned above, but you won’t hear it from her. A self-described “introvert”, she’s uncomfortable with accolades. She’s a practicing HR professional with tons of “in the trenches” experience. We collaborated on a companion blog post on mentoring, a project which was thoroughly enjoyable. Lisa’s also shared her time and talents on helping me get up to speed with the blogging process.
Most Encouraging: Thomas Waterhouse. Thomas’ Twitter handle is the very aptly named @Encouraging. As a practicing psychologist, his daily work is about encouragement. He models it very well by his kind, positive and specific comments posted on the blog.
Most Thoughtful: Jane Anderson. Jane was an early contributor to The People Equation, for which I’m very grateful. Jane’s a gifted writer, a talent she applies daily at her job as an Education Specialist for a financial services company. Her insightful, carefully crafted comments motivate me to keep writing.
The Enhancer: Susan Mazza. A leadership consultant and host of the Random Acts of Leadership blog, Susan can be counted on to offer additional insights to my blog posts. She has a unique talent for seeing the nuances of issues and bringing them to light. Her comments enhance the ideas posted on The People Equation. Susan has also become a sort of MasterMind Group of One for me too. She’s got a keen business mind and is always willing to help me “noodle” over an issue.
The Instigator: Barbara Giamanco. Barb is the founder of Talent Builders, a consultancy that helps organizations integrate social media into their sales processes. Barb is the one who started it all for me in early 2009. She coached me on the basics of social media and provided the very first comment on the blog in May of 2009, back when it was JenniferVMiller.com. Thanks, Barb!
To those mentioned above, thank you so much for sharing your insights, offering your suggestions and helping grow the People Equation. There are many others who have commented too, but I don’t want this awards ceremony to drag on to long 
As the year draws to a close, I thank everyone who has stopped by the People Equation. Whether you just browsed a bit, or stayed awhile to write a comment, I know the blog is better for your having been here.
Wishing you all the best for 2010!
