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Newsletter 1 as a Web Page

"Life Resume Update™
“Take every opportunity to manually update your Life Resume and you will be much better prepared to handle life’s auto-updates”
By Greg Gilbert PHR (Professional Human Resources)

Welcome

Welcome to my column, Life Resume Update. Let me first introduce myself. I have recently retired from a long career with a large company and moved back to Southwest Arkansas to be close to my cattle farm outside Hope, Arkansas. I know you still believe in a place called Hope. Whoops, I think someone has already used that one. I will attempt to stay with mostly original material. I held various positions with that company but my last eleven and most meaningful were spent as the Area Manager of Human Resources. Other than my relationship with Jesus Christ those were my most developmental years. I learned so much about people in those eleven years but the one person I learned the most about was ME. When you deal with nothing but problems and negative items and people it is difficult to not become “one of them”. I began paying attention to some of the annoying personality traits I saw in some of the problem employees and others that I dealt with. I began looking inside to evaluate the one and only person which I have total control over, ME, and saw some of the same traits.

This column is a result of being put on the spot and my inability to sometimes say no. In early 2004 I was requested to do a program at a local meeting that included mostly personnel and Human Resources type employees of different companies. I agreed but had no idea of what to present. I did however have an entire month to prepare. I began looking through years of planners, calendars and PDA files. I also thought back through my many life experiences both on and off the farm. Not only did I have enough material for a fifty minute presentation, I had enough to write a column and here we are.

The presentation was initially titled, take a deep breath now: Grievances, Arbitrations, Law-Suits, Discrimination Claims, EEOC Complaints, Sexual Harassment, Violence in the Workplace, Employee Complaints, Performance Problems, Power Struggles, Playing the Role of Mediator, Playing Politics, Long Hours and Other Positive Reasons I Pursued and Truly Enjoyed a Career in Human Resources That Taught Me Many Things I Wish I Had Known Earlier In My Life As A Supervisor and as a Person. Well, I had to abandon that title for two reasons. The first was that it would not fit on a business card. The second and most important was that I did not want people to think that I would spend fifty minutes speaking about all those negative items. I then changed the name of the presentation to Life Resume Update. This is a term I have used with my family and friends for years. I have told my kids to take every opportunity to manually update your Life Resume and you will be much better prepared to handle life’s auto-updates.






I then had to hopefully convince the audience that the time spent with me would be worthwhile. I explained that I was no smarter that anyone else, in fact I was at a disadvantage because of my senior year in high school. You see, my senior year of high school, 1972, has probably robbed me of unknown success. (News Flash!! It is now time for a Life Resume Update. When you tell someone your age or the year you graduate, look away or close your eyes. Their facial expression may hurt your feelings. They can control what they say but they can’t control those eyebrows.) Anyway, back to my point. My school evidently had budget problems that year. They probably decided the seniors would not be highly productive in that last month of school so they allowed us to graduate in late April. I really think I would have reached my educational peak in May but was robbed of this possibly life changing opportunity. Plus, the water was very cold at the lake in April. Let me get back to convincing my audience that their time was not wasted. I explained that I was similar to many people as I have had one God, two parents, one spouse, two children and many friends and family in my life that have updated my life resume. The difference lies with those fun-filled, highly developmental eleven years I spent in Human Resources. Believe me; I had my own Life Resume updated at least hourly in that position. No one ever called and said “Hey Greg, this is Bob in the field, things are running great out here, keep up the good work and have a great day”. Since most of the issues I dealt with in HR were negative, I really don’t enjoy being around negative, small minded, petty, complaining, gossiping people. I explain this to my audience and hope they are not one of those people, but if they are, I am in the only situation I enjoy being around them. I am talking and they are not. I want to be around people that talk about things and events-not people. I do not consider gossip to be developmental.

In this column, I will address many issues. Some of them, if you take an honest look at yourself, may make you uncomfortable. But face it, we never change anything in our life until we become uncomfortable. You probably changed posterior positions a couple of times reading this. Why, because you became uncomfortable. We will also have some fun and learn to laugh at ourselves. I am looking forward to our visits. Prepare to have your Life Resume updated.






Greg Gilbert is a semi-guitar picker, semi-writer, semi-songwriter, semi-poet, cattle rancher, public speaker, retired Human Resources manager and currently lives in Southwest Arkansas with his wife and best friend of 31 years (yes, his wife and best friend are the same person). He is a survivor of raising two wonderful daughters in a sometimes hostile, 75% female environment. He also cheerfully answers to the name Pa Paw.
For information on a Life Resume Update presentation for your organization or church check out his web site at www.greggilbert.org . To order a “Life Resume Update” CD, e-mail Greg at greggilbert@swbell.net .