My Brand (or lack thereof...)!

"A brand is the promise of an experience" says writer Erika Andersen, so she read somewhere and decided she liked that definition best (and one of her favorite "branding" experts is Dan Schwabel, our "tweet" friend!)

So, with that said, my "experience" of living in paradise is how I came up with my blog name.  There is a song called "It's Aloha Friday, No Work Til Monday" (check out youtube)...this translates to TGIF Hawaiian style, a laid back way of life.  Weekends are for relaxing, surfing, hanging at the beach with family and friends, enjoying the land of aloha during your days off (hey, tourists pay big bucks to come have this experience for a week, we can have it every day!).  When I moved back to California after living on Maui for 20 years, I had MAJOR culture shock (WHERE was the aloha spirit?).  Having lived on an island, which is like living in a bubble, and being self-employed in a small business in our home, well you can imagine how the transition went...even at my new job, I had "Corporate America" culture shock...I couldn't just show up to work in my pajamas and "talk story" whenever I wanted!  In an effort to feel more at home and spread that aloha spirit, every Friday morning, I would walk around the office singing my "brand" song, and always made sure to say good morning and good night to everyone I passed on the way to my office.  I got some really funny looks and heard some even funnier comments ("Don't quit your day job!") but hey, I was creating that "promised experience" and who knew it would come in handy for a future HR Technology class that I didn't even know I was going to sign up for!  And you know what...now on Fridays I hear quite a few "Hey Carol, it's aloha Friday"!

I realize this might not be the branding that most professionals describe as successful however in my company, it works for me!

PS...I've yet to wear a muumuu to work, I'm sure THAT would really push them all over the edge in laughter...but wait, tomorrow is Halloween.......hmmmmm????!!!!

Technology in HR...

So much for a vacation update...the computer keyboard in Switzerland was all hemajang...letters and symbols switched all over the place!  Facebook got a daily photo and update, it was the best I could do!

Now, I get to blog about Technology in Human Resources...I plead blonde!  Thought I was dialed in however this is NOT the case!  Twitter???  Hmmm, it makes no sense to me...YET!

HR in my company is pretty much an admin position...lots of new knowledge and no where to use it...YET!