TO: Laurence G. (Lon) O’Neil, New SHRM CEO and Grand Poobah
FROM: John Hollon, Workforce Management editor and pain-in-the-ass SHRM critic
SUBJECT: Welcome, but we need to talk about that big-bucks ad campaign

Dear Lon,

Forgive me for not doing this sooner, but welcome from a fellow member of SHRM. I haven’t written much about the society since you were named to replace Sue Meisinger a couple of months ago, but I wanted to make sure you had a chance to get on board and settled in before I started dishing advice.

I never heard much from your predecessor about my counsel, and frankly, I don’t expect to hear much from you either. That’s just the way it goes with SHRM leaders, because a lot of your time is clearly focused on the money —how to grow it, where to put it and what to do with all of it, given that it keeps flowing in at such a breathtaking rate.

And that gets me to my first piece of advice: Whatever you do in these first few weeks of your term at SHRM, take a good look at how the organization is spending money. Once you do, I think you’ll see that this huge and pricey campaign to have SHRM “sponsor” election coverage and the presidential (and vice presidential) debates with advertising on CNN, Fox News, Fox Business Network and National Public Radio is a complete waste of time.

Mark Schoeff Jr., Workforce’s Washington reporter, estimated the cost of this campaign at several million dollars. Whatever it is, it makes me wonder: Is this the best way to help HR people do their jobs better, and get them that long-sought-after seat at the table? When it comes to the ads, even former SHRM chief Mike Losey told Schoeff, “I’m not an advocate for spending all that money.” And I’m in complete agreement.

Sponsoring debates and election coverage is exactly the last thing SHRM should be spending money on. What’s the ROI for SHRM on that expenditure? My guess is that a strong business type like yourself will be asking those tough questions, as you should be, because I don’t know that they have been asked all that much since Losey departed as CEO.

This will be a challenge, I know, but it’s extremely important that you dive into your new job quickly and take a strong position on how SHRM is spending its money. Vanity campaigns like this one do nothing to build better HR leaders, and in my view, they show just how off-base SHRM is when it comes to using its war chest to drive positive change in the human resources profession.

So that’s my first piece of advice: Follow the money and get a good fix on what SHRM is spending, and why. My guess is that if you do, you’ll have some interesting questions to pose to the SHRM bureaucrats. Plus, you’ll send them a clear message that as CEO, you’ll be one in the mold of Mike Losey—a force to be reckoned with.

Yours for a better SHRM,

John Hollon (a member in good standing)