Got a note from a mailing list I am a part of via Success Factors - they are doing the normal conference thing in June in NYC, and guess who's the keynote?  None other than former GE boss Jack Welch...

As a HR Generalist, anytime I hear Welch's name, I think of one thing - forced ranking or the vitality curve within a Performance Management system.  When I first heard of this type of system in the early 90's and the GE model for incorporating it, I was jazzed as a young HR practitioner.  What better way to help the organization get results, right?   Then the lawsuits starting humming at established companies that attempted to incorporate the system and follow GE's lead - most notably Ford, among others.  I soon realized that implementation, even with support of the C level, isn't an easy thing or without risk.

As a result, a lot of us HR types discount Jack based on the difficulties and risk with the forced ranking system.  That's too bad - to become better read regarding Jack and all the progressive human capital stuff he supported at GE and beyond, check out books like Winning and his weekly column in Business Week.  He's much deeper than a single system and his contributions to areas like Leadership Development are substantial. 

As for SuccessFactors, this team is clearly the leader in terms of doing on-demand automation of your Performance Management system.  I priced them about a year ago, and as a small company with 270 employees, couldn't afford them at the prices they were touting.  I need to check again....