So this morning the Patty Smyth/Scandal song “The Warrior” comes on. You know the 80’s anthem (good god it is hard to repeat the lyric) “shooting at the walls of heartache, bang, bang….”. Dear lord I cannot continue…..and I am from the 80’s and can appreciate an anthem.
I tweet out my distaste of this song that I despised even back in the day and to my surprise a myriad of my coworkers/ twitterati, etc respond. For the love of God, most favor the tune; Love the song. Most don’t understand why I don’t like it. Several said “so you’re not a warrior?”, “I’m a warrior”, “can’t believe you’re a hater”.
I was in shock and awe folks; shock and awe.
So the HR takeaway: remember your perception of employee likes and dislikes is always wrong. Always. If you don’t believe me check out this cool Dan Pink Video! (love the 80’s references on it). Getting a handle on what they think is vital to strategic success. Study after study show what employees favor is almost always different from what leaders think employees favor (or are motivated by or engaged by). Since corporate success hinges on employee engagement, HR rockstars need to embrace this concept of, oh…I don’t know, asking employees what motivates them.
If not you may be shooting at the walls of heartache….o god I can’t believe I went there.
PS– Patty Smyth seems to be doing OK despite my wholehearted distaste of this song==>> she and hubby John McEnroe seem to be living the good life. So kudo’s to you Warrior Lady…