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Here are five great posts from the business blogs that will stimulate your thinking, drag you outside the box, and generally make your life better. I'm pointing you to posts on the dumbing of America, Generation Y and the rest of us, leadership training, one reason why HR may not be strategic, and what a difference a process can make.

Rowan Monahan hosts the most recent Carnival of Human Resources at Fortify Your Oasis.

Wally's Comment: It seems like the HR Carnival has grown in two significant ways over the last year. The sheer number of submissions has gone up, up, up. But the quality of submissions has claimed as well.

From the Atlantic: The dumbing of America
"For the first time in decades, and probably ever, workers retiring from the US labor force will be better-educated on average (according to one measure anyway) than their much younger counterparts."

Wally's Comment: File this under "Be afraid, be very afraid." A strong anti-intellectual bias in American culture contributes to this. So does an immigration policy that is felony stupid on both ends of the educational spectrum. And then there's another problem. We've simply quit turning out graduates for important technical fields, like nuclear engineering.

From Systematic HR: Gen Y’s Entitlement Employment
"We don’t understand how Gen Y employees often need constant gratification and instantaneous positive feedback. They live in an instantaneous world. Forget about voice mail and e-mail. This is too slow. They want IM. Everything happens real time and when they want/need it. Here is the message. It is not Gen Y that needs to change. It is the rest of us. Business is real time. Business is collaborative. Business needs to involve talent when they are ready, not on our timeline. Business requires agility."

Wally's Comment: There are posts all over the web about Gen Y. Most of them are uninformed rubbish. This one is solid gold.

From Ken Nowak at Results vs. Activities: Why Leadership Development Training Doesn’t Work and What You Can Do About It
"How prevalent are poor leaders and what do we do about it? We all know that poor leadership is rampant in most organizations. We also know that most commonly, leadership development is viewed as the cure."

Wally's Comment: As usual, Dr. Nowak has got thoughtful, informed and helpful things to say.

From HR Wench: Great, Another 33 Page Report On How We Suck
"Here is my problem with this: in every company I have worked for (and the list isn't impressive, I know) the Board of Directors, executives and line managers didn't have nor were they even SLIGHTLY interested in "long term measures such as strategic workforce planning". So why the shit should an HR girl give a care? That is my beef. HR works for the execs and BOD. If they say don't spend your time on this, spend your time on that and we can't convince them otherwise why is it "HR's fault" for sucking? Because we can't convince the boss of what we should be working on we must have a poor argument or lack negotiation and persuasive skills. Quick, everyone in HR run and get your MBA so you can be in debt and still not be respected. Woo-hoo! Who's got the doughnuts?"

Wally's Comment: Forget about the "people are our most important asset" rhetoric. In most companies, the theory-in-use is that people are a controllable variable cost. HR Wench throws that mis-match attitude on the ground and stomps that sucker flat!

From Signal vs. Noise: Perception, creativity and paint color
"Yesterday my wife and I stood in our unfinished condo deliberating paint colors. Closing day looms, and the developers require our color choices before they’ll finish their work. Our fondness for furniture aside, neither of us are interior designers or color mavens. So as we stood there in a white living room full of sawdust, we were stressing out big-time.

Fortunately one of our friends is an interior designer. We gave her a call and went back to the condo this evening. Within an hour, she took us from an intractable debate to a lovely solution. Given my line of work, I was as interested in her process as I was in the end result. How did she guide us to a beautiful color scheme when I, a supposed “designer,” couldn’t pick one color? What did she do differently?"

Wally's Comment: Read this post for an understanding of the difference a process and specific expertise can make.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.

Request your free copy of "Meeting the Challenges of the Boomer Brain Drain: An integrated approach."

Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.

Click here to find out more about Wally's coaching services.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check our Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Letter.

Click here to find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.