I’ll be the first to admit that I have been pretty critical of the leadership of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, and there’s a good reason for that.

Put simply, I expect SHRM to set an example for HR people everywhere by using the resources, size and clout of the world’s largest human resources organization to work for the betterment of the profession, and not be just another painfully bureaucratic trade association overly preoccupied with building an ever-larger bank account for no discernable purpose.

So, let me be one of the first to say that the choice of Laurence (Lon) G. O’Neil, formerly senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Kaiser Permanente, to be SHRM’s new president and CEO looks to be a huge step in the right direction.

Let me count the ways:

• He seems to have the business chops that SHRM needs from its top leader. O’Neil was the senior HR executive at Kaiser Permanente, a $40 billion not-for-profit health care organization, for more than five years. With 158,000 employees, managing the people function at Kaiser was surely a challenge that prepared him well for SHRM. Plus, O’Neil’s previous work in HR with Bank of America gives him solid Fortune 500 experience as well.
 
• O’Neil isn’t a government bureaucrat or association professional. Everyone should be thankful that the SHRM board didn’t go with yet another Department of Labor type or government bureaucrat for this spot. Nothing wrong with government bureaucrats, I suppose, but is that who we really want leading SHRM again? And senior association professionals are essentially bureaucrats without government portfolios. Thank goodness the board resisted going down that road.

• His foreign experience should help as SHRM slowly works to become a global organization. O’Neil spent three years overseas directing Bank of America’s HR functions in Asia. And earlier in his career, he was director of social services for the Tehran American School in Iran.

• O’Neil knows there’s life west of the Mississippi. With a master’s degree from the University of New Mexico and five years in Oakland, California, at Kaiser, I think it’s safe to say that O’Neil probably isn’t another one of those people who is infatuated by life east of the Hudson (or the Potomac). To all of us who live west of the Hudson, this is a good thing.

• Of course, the proof of all this is in the pudding. O’Neil looks good on paper, but the real test will be how well he does navigating the SHRM bureaucracy, keeping his own counsel and pushing the organization ahead. I doubt that he’ll spend much time listening to my counsel, but in my view, SHRM needs a good kick in the tail. It needs to be less arrogant and bureaucratic, more transparent, and it needs to stop trying to be all things to all people.

One more thing: I’ve chided the SHRM board of directors for taking so much time to make this choice, with the caveat that it would be well worth the wait if the delay was because the board was nailing down the perfect candidate to lead SHRM into the future.  

Well, so far so good. The SHRM board seems to have made a solid choice for a new leader. O’Neil offers a lot of promise and hope for the organization. But only time will tell if he is the guy who can focus the world’s largest HR organization on what human resource people must do to be strategic business partners in the 21st century—and if he can get SHRM to help HR get there.