Love it or Leave it

“Just One More Thing…” is a short-form way that I share ideas, questions and guidance with more substance than a LinkedIn post and less academic rigor than my articles. I hope you find it valuable.

The first differentiator of great HR leaders that we teach in our Talent Management Institute program is Business Junkie. We define that as both Knowing Business and Loving Business.

We teach it first because it’s the “knock out” factor in HR, meaning that if you don’t have it you’ll struggle hard to be an effective senior HR leader. In fact, I’d suggest that if you don’t have it (or don’t acknowledge that you need to have it), you’ve chosen the wrong field.

Knowing Business

When we say “Knowing Business” we mean that you understand how your company makes money, how your products or services are made and sold, your financials and the trends in them, how each function contributes to delivering to your customers, and more. We ask these questions in our TMI sessions and find that few participants can clearly answer them.

Even if your knowledge of that content is low today, it’s all learnable with some effort. You can ask ChatGPT to construct an 8-week course with a reading list to get to know your company, and it will provide a relatively decent guide.

Loving Business

Your motivation to know your business largely depends on whether you “Love Business.” This is a mindset, not a skill, that is borne of deep curiosity about how and why your business (or organization) operates. Just like a physician is fascinated by the human body, those who love business can’t stop talking about their business, their competitors and their industry.

Loving business is a trait, not a state, which is what makes it a clear differentiator. If you aren’t “wired” to love business, you won’t ask the right questions, connect with the right people or propose the right solutions. You can fake that behavior for a while but you won’t be able to sustain it.

Here’s a one-question survey to assess your level of “love”: I think my company’s business is exceptionally cool and I’d do almost anything to learn more about it. Rate yourself on a 5 – 1 scale with 5 being “Absolutely!!!” 3 being “Sure, why not?” and 1 being you truly dislike it. If you’re not at a high 4, you’re likely in the wrong place.

It’s OK to recognize that you don’t know and/or love business. In fact, the earlier you do this the better. We should all feel engaged by our work, and building a strong business is the work of HR. If you don’t love it, let’s figure out your plan to leave it.