HR Blogs - Bias Is a Part of the Game When You Do Op/Ed for a Living (and no one cares)...

By now, you've heard the fallout from this Workforce article on the bias that HR bloggers bring to the table as they blog.

What's that?  You haven't heard?  That's right, I forgot - no one cares.  

No one.  Bet on that.

When HR pros or consultants decide to blog, the market decides to read their thoughts (or to ignore them) based on some very simple criteria:

1. They entertain.

2. They inform while they entertain.

3. They take a position someone reading can agree or disagree with.

4. They have a professional identity someone values.

Period.  End of list.  The bloggers who best combine these factors get the biggest audience and most attention. The bias each blogger has?  Doesn't matter. Nobody cares.

Are bloggers journalists?  I say yes, but we're not "news-gathering" journalists who are paid to simply report facts.  Instead, bloggers are Op-Ed writers who focus on reacting to the news and events around them.  For example, let's take the three bloggers featured in the Workforce article and add Jessica Lee and myself to the mix for a blogger panel of sorts and examine the Op/Ed positioning, otherwise known as "bias":

-Jason Corsello - Technology guy for Knowledge Infusion, a firm that gets paid to advise companies on HR Tech purchases.  Here's a shocker - they have relationships they apparently don't openly disclose.  I feel like my sister just told me Santa Claus isn't real.

-Joel Cheesman - Job board expert who looks like he could play bass for Weezer.  Likes to rip on Monster.com and the dude who used to run Jobster, whom I think Joel chased to Europe.  Again, apparently takes money via consulting, some of it from people who don't care for Monster or the dude who used to run Jobster. 

-Lance Haun - Gen Y HR pro who just recently shifted to a consulting company. According to the Workforce article, actually had the nerve to forget to update his "about me" page to disclose the conflict now that he gets paid to sell.  I'm appalled...Wait, I actually tried to motivate my network to help him and he talked openly about how his blog helped him land his job.  Can the transparency be a trick since he forgot to update the "about me" page?

-Jessica Lee - Fistful of Talent editor, Gen Y HR Pro and female.  Intelligent and a little snarky at times.  It all sounds great, but wait!  She works for a PR firm out of DC.  They were probably involved in some kind of muckity muck in the Bush administration.  Or the Obama administration.  Whichever one you consider to be biased - you pick it..

-Me - VP of HR who's hopelessly conflicted.  I'm pro-business, anti-union and have a strong disposition for the value of recruiting/talent and HR having a strong opinion on what goes on around them.  I like sports, pop culture and mixing it all together. I'm also a SHRM member and a contributing editor at Workforce, which is ironic.  Anything that falls outside that view?  I don't like it much, which is an obvious form of bias.

The point? We're all hopelessly conflicted because of our life experiences and positions in the game.  But at the end of the day, the conflicts matter less than the effort and value provided.  Go back to the four factors I listed at the jump.  I won't judge myself here, but Corsello, Cheesman, Haun and Lee do something that few consultants or HR pros do in the big scheme of things.

They put themselves on the line by making their opinions known - with or without bias. They add value and opinion to a profession that needs it.  The rest of the world is writing whitepapers that no one reads.  Think it's easy?  Try to write a blog post every day on a blog for a month - then report back to me.

We're not news gatherers my friends, we're Op/Ed columnists.  When's the last time you read an Op/Ed columnist and said, "Damn, I can't figure out whether this person is Democrat or Replublican"?

Exactly. No one cares about bias.  Entertain me, inform me and take a position I can react to. 

Just don't bore me.

PS - I read the NYT, so save your hate mail...

Comments

[David Manaster]

When opinionated commentators are motivated by undisclosed conflicts of interest, it can become an outright scandal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/20generals.html

This is an important issue that Workforce has tackled, and I feel like the mix of hurt feelings and "this is a sideshow" that it has generated from the blogosphere is a major disservice.

I read the Times too :)

[laurie ruettimann]

I just think WF was late to the game. As journalists, I think they failed.

PS - Does anyone care enough to send hate mail? That's the question.

[Kris Dunn]

David -

My take is that the world is a partisan place. Whether it's a GOP general or Vann Jones in the white house, everyone has baggage. Bloggers in my opinion are Op/Ed people - who by their very nature come to the table with the lens of a specific perspective. My feelings aren't hurt about it, I just don't think it's an issue for content that is Op/Ed at best. I'm cool with exploring the issue and agree that it's worthy of coverage, I just think Op/Ed is what bloggers do. Everyone's got an opinion, bloggers included, and that's OK. I think most of us filter everything we see.

Laurie - Disagree that Workforce failed. I think the article could have been clearer about the issue it was framing. On the hate mail question, thanks for showing up and being snarky. I've already got email from folks from a political view that don't get the picture is used to frame the bias topic. Hope that answers your question, no need to reply.

[Lori D.]

I'm sorry; I didn't realize that this is such a big deal... I mean everything ever written is from a point of view right. I agree with Kris, conflicts of interest exist everywhere and that is why I make a concerted effort to try to find information from as many points of view as I can. I mean I like Kris, but I don't agree with everything he says.....Sorry!

What I hate most about the WF article is that is assumes that people are mindless drones and that they are open to the devious influence of biased bloggers. Huh? I mean really we're talking about HR people right....we're supposed to be able to walk tight ropes and navigate perilous business waters. You think we can’t tell when someone has a bias?

Well in my highly biased opinion, no one can truly have an opinion unless they make an effort to learn the other side of the story. Sort of in the same way that I think parent's who kept the children from listening to the presidential speech without care to even read the transcripts are idiots. Sorry....whole other can of worms…maybe I should blog about it?

[Joshua Letourneau]

Maybe it's just me, but WF's focus doesn't seem to be so much on the Op/Ed nature of blogging . . . but I agree with Kris that blogging is Op/Ed at its core. It's not the bloggers fault that people don't like investigative reporting and/or data-driven conclusions. That's reality - it's why more people read the National Enquirer than the Economist. WF seemed to subtly point to the relationships and behind-the-scenes handshakes that have become commonplace in the Recruiting World.

"Advertise over there and we'll make you out to be a God on our blog."
"Join this group and you'll be on the short-list for a Recruiting Award next year."
"Contract with our firm and we'll headline you as a success story at our next big show."
"Want influence? Then buy our schtuff. We'll make you out to be a recruiting genius, and for that, you'll be recruited away for double the money you're making today. See, buying our product or service is really an investment in your personal brand."

Nowadays, our community is involved in a capitalist land-grab for "influence". Somewhere along the line, we have forgotten that recruiting influence is exerted at the 1-on-1 level first (the micro-level, if you will), and the macro level second. Integrity has taken a back seat to income. As we all know, however, that can't last - it never does. Just look at our financial markets last year.

For me, I'd rather help a disabled person get a job, or open my door to a Hurricane Katrina family needed a home for a few weeks, or teach a fatherless child how to hit a 15-ft jump-shot . . . than get a pat on the back from someone (or some blog) in our industry pushing their own agenda forward.

Then again, perhaps that's my own personal bias :) And Kris, our biases may be similar as we have a near-identical reading list :) Blogging is quickly digestable entertainment, right? Nobody wants to hear from bloggers that float around the web kissing everyone's rear-end. We want opinion - we value people with the cajones to speak their mind, even if they might be off-base. FOT isn't known for a group of people that agree on every little thing - after all, how boring and transparent would that be? I'd want out if it became an online snuggie-party.

I learned early on in the Marines that the best leaders aren't "Yes Men" who go around trying to kiss ass for personal gain. Frankly, I hated people trying to kiss mine when I picked up Sergeant. People follow leaders with integrity - even if you're wrong, integrity is the ultimate equalizer. In the blogging world, integrity is also everything . . . and readers know immediately if you've sold out or if you're a stand-up person. And as long as you have integrity, I'll read your blog . . . so I say blog on!

"Give me blogging or give me death!" Patrick Henry 2.0