Soapbox grabs me by the ears and shakes. Hard. Slaps me. Twice. Calls me names. Pours cold water on me. I can feel him deveining me.

It's good to have someone shout Carpe Diem or Be True in your face on occasion.

Thanks.

A New Vision for Human Resources: Defining the Human Resources Function by Its Results by Jac Fitz-Enz, Jack J. Phillips.

The premise:

Everyone else in senior management governs by numbers. HR must also. 

This thin paperback talks strategy (what to measure), tactics (how to measure), and operations (applying the measures to governance).

A few observations...

It is very well written. Terse, no padding, well structured. You can get through it in an hour, cover to cover.

It is actionable. Everything discussed is straightforward to execute.

It is realistic. Fritz-enz and Phillips embrace HR politics.

It is ambitious. If you're taking care of ordinary HR administrivia without a sweat, this is your roadmap, a framework for getting you to the next level.

I like their ten measures of effectiveness:

10. Healthcare cost per employee.

9. Pay and benefits as a percentage of operating expense.

8. Cost per hire.

7. Return on training.

6. Turnover rate.

5. Turnover cost.

4. Time to fill jobs.

3. Return on human capital invested.

2. Human value added.

1. The one that means the most to your boss.

These measure in vivo the quality/cost/risk of the workforce. Not the cost of an HR department. This is the right direction for HR.  

This book's a pearl.

I like Ryze.

The old saw still holds about most people finding jobs through word of mouth.

Ryze is a good experiment in slashing the effort of extending the size, freshness, and intimacy of their networks.

For example, I upgraded to gold and did a search on "nano" to find folks interested in nanotechnology for a Nanoschmooze event. I now have 24 aquaintances I've corresponded with about their interest, and some have come to events. If I sustain those relationships, paying attention, some will move from casual association to professional connection to online and offline friendship.

This may affect the staffing professions.

Headhunters and staffing agencies used to manage a rolodex of a few hundred candidates. With ecruiting tools, we can canvas millions to add shabbier/less-qualified cards to our rolodex.

Ryze has the potential to build a middle way; social networks' richness and durability and the Internet's low transaction costs.

It will take a few years to reality-check my conclusions.

Some of what I've been doing on Ryze.

I created a home page for myself. I tersely described myself using their form; the results link me to others with similar experiences and interests.

People come to my page and sign my guestbook, introducing themselves, following up on conversations, in a public way. Some people have hundreds of posts.

I started a tribe (a bulletin board for now) for those interested in free agency.

I welcomed people to Ryze.

I posted an event invitation.

I had private message conversations with some people and off-Ryze with others.

Some interesting Ryzers:

Auren Hoffman, BridgePath

Adrian Scott, Ryze 

Jon Udell, journalist 

Dominic Pejoro, BrassRing

Steve Mushero, cto at large

Valdis Krebs, social network analyzer

Kerima Wahl and Carmen De Jesus, photographers

Al Sargent,  product manager

Ryze was nominated for a Webbie. My suggestions for acceptance speeches, in 5 words or less:

20. Be excellent to each other.

19. Buddy lists, 500 new friends.

18. My leotard still fits. (See Adrian's bio.)

17. After this, our party's at ...

16. After a few drinks...

15. We had this great party...

14. It's not what you know...

13. Ryze, no ruse, a rose!

12. My rolodex? Bigger than yours.

11. Ten thousand good friends; imagine!

10. Don't I know you from?

9. A Ryze, just as sweet.

8. Ryze up, thousands found together.

7. Ryze up, schmooze on.

6. Schmooze for a new millenium.

5. I'm out of business cards.

4. Thanks for ryzing up.

3. New ways to mingle aryze.

2. Aryze, young lovers.

1. Cast off your shackles. Aryze!