Performance vs. Potential – it’s the only way to look at who’s a star and who’s a scrub in your organization.  You can also use it for lots of other purposes, namely comparing the relative merits of Brat Pack movies starring Molly Ringwald.  With a little James Spader thrown in for good measure.

You’re not following me?  I was up yesterday at the bswift Annual Conference in Chicago, where I spoke about The 9 Faces of HR – a primer on how to morph the performance/potential grid to evaluate HR teams and HR candidates you’re thinking about hiring.

Here’s one of my slides – Using Performance vs Potential to evaluate Brat Pack movies:

Breakfast Club – c’mon.  Performance is measured by box office and critical acclaim, potential measured by whether you want to watch it with your kids when they get old enough.  Breakfast Club wins that hands down.  I’ll let you rant in the comments whether I’ve got Pretty in Pink and 16 Candles in the wrong spot.  But St. Elmo’s Fire?  That was one hyped up movie, but let’s face it – no one is waiting until their son or daughter turns 16 so they can watch that piece of crap with them and bond.

But I digress – had the time to take in most of the bSwift conference (check them out, pretty cool brand and some great people) and it was a unique opportunity to get back into what’s going on with Healthcare, Wellness, etc.  Top line of what I learned:

• Like the guy in Jaws, “You’re going to need a bigger boat”:  If ObamaCare goes through, you better have someone to help you figure it out.  Period.
• We've got some OPTIMISTIC people related to the GOP winning back everything in November.
• People are still actively trying to find ways to make their workforce healthier.  Wellness is very much in play.
• Companies aren’t afraid to go to the “stick” instead of the “carrot” when it comes to you finding your motivation to get with the program.
• A $25 per month penalty for not getting your screenings complete is interesting – seems like I could buy a lot of behavioral action (if not change) for that amount – itemized on your paystub, of course.
• If Financial worries are one of the biggest causes of stress among your workforce, why not include a financial education/counseling play in your wellness program?

And the biggest thing I learned: I won’t do another speaking gig without mandating that I come out to the theme from St. Elmo’s Fire.  It just seems like the over-the-top, "we’re going to rule this planet once we figure out who we are", totally Gen-X thing to do.

That’s right Gen Y – we once thought we were special too.  Keep thinking that, it's cute.  Here's some lyrics from the song your GenX boss is humming today after she reads this post:

"Growin' up
You don't see the writin' on the wall
Passin' by
Movin' straight ahead you knew it all
But maybe sometime if you feel the pain
You'll find you're all alone
Everything has changed

Play the game
You know you can't quit until it's won
Soldier on
Only you can do what must be done
You know in some way
You're a lot like me
You're just a prisoner
And you're tryin' to break free..."

Wow.  Really?

Really.