Seth Godin has a notion that corporate philosophy will change if we quit referring to “Human Resources” as such, and instead re-christen it “Department of Talent.” He says the idea of HR came about in an industrial age, and demeans employees by treating them as a natural resource. Allow me to make the counter argument:

Treat people like people, and they won’t care what the department is called. How you treat them is more important than a word. And that particular word has a track record of negative effects.

Airheads

I started working in television news behind the scenes, doing graphics. I worked my way up to eventually handle any and every job behind the scenes of a newscast, including two years as a director. By age 20, I was responsible for coordinating and executing on deadline with a crew of seven reporting to me. But I wasn’t ‘talent.’

Teevee news, like the entertainment industry, reserves the word ‘talent’ for those who appear on camera. My colleagues who would get freelance production gigs for sporting events and the like were warned about what was and was not considered appropriate when speaking to the ‘talent.’ The ‘talent’ was simply too important to be bothered. Once I made the transition to an on-air reporting job, I loathed being called ‘talent.’ I often quipped that I’d rather be known as ‘hustle’ or ‘effort’ or ‘ingenuity.’ But not ‘talent.’

I found the word loaded with self-importance, and frequently applied to people who in fact had no talent. Many assumed the mantle of the word, which granted instant puffery to recent college graduates who would lord it over the rest of their (limited) known universe.

Generation ME

We’ve already seen the forecasts of the Worker of Tomorrow; the Millenials. I call them Generation ME. Like Windows ME, it looks like an upgrade but won’t play well with your existing system and might just crash everything. This is a generation that as a whole has a completely new paradigm for employment and career, and wants to know right off the bat what is in it for them. (No, not every single individual. We’re talking trends here.)

MillenialsThis is the generation that flings caution to the wind and posts career-limiting information to Facebook and MySpace and personal blogs. This is the generation that has grown up in a nearly consequence-free environment. This is a generation that has no problem with self-esteem and ego… do we really need to feed that right off the bat by saddling them with the word ‘talent?’

I’ve seen the effects. It’s not pretty. I’m thankful every day that I escaped that environment with my identity and self-worth intact. And the notion of wantonly extending that culture across the board in every occupation scares the hell out of me.

Seth is right: what you call a department can have a great impact. He just picked the wrong replacement. ‘Talent’ is not a panacea. It is the first step toward malignant narcissism.

[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, broadcasting, language, human resources[/tags]