Post Zero: Learning to Chirp

Welcome to a series where I share my thoughts on workplace culture and optimal internal business strategies. This is my space to reflect on new and improved HR models and ideal ways of doing business. People Ops should be front and center as much as any other department because when done wrong, it will make or break your company. Water your people as much as your product. HR = Humane Roots.

I enjoy writing. I’ve grown to love seeing my brain work itself out on paper. Going from scattered notes and jumbled prose to a delineated and mature argument is a cool process to watch. I know that I will never be as good at writing as my favorite authors. But that’s okay. Hesitating to write because of that trepidation means not sharing how I feel. At its core, I’m pushing against one of the key luxuries of being human, which is standing up for what I believe and talking about my experiences in the world.

I started writing fiction for my eyes only. Stream of consciousness tinkering to practice the craft and to keep me on my toes creatively. After moving to San Francisco in 2012, I was confronted with a few months of dismal job searching and so during that time, I wrote about some of the books that I read. Most of those posts are no longer online but you’ll find a few of them here.

I guess you could say once I started working full-time, I lost my muse. I was also too busy reading great books and trying to bolster my film education. That is to say, I read a shit-ton of books and watched a whole lot of movies. However during the past few years, I’ve been too passive in the professional arena after I got home. I’ve been incredibly diligent in my work during the day; crafting great projects and improving internal processes as much as possible. It’s no longer enough. Before you think this is a not-so-covert humblebrag, think back on the vast number of times you’ve put your whole self into an amazing project or a company or an idea.

When I thought about it, I realized I’d been working entirely too hard in a closed loop and not spreading my learnings outside of the company. As much as we pride ourselves on a sharing economy, I hadn’t been doing enough reciprocation.

As this series progresses, my attempt at articulating this type of humane work culture will not be polished but it’s living and out there for anyone to see. I want to do my part in the community to spread the message; doing so in a small way similar to how Buffer Open has on a much larger one. The more of us that communicate the need to build out all aspects of a business rather than focusing too narrowly on the end product will mean that we’ll eventually change how more and more people work. Ripples of betterment all around.

So there you have it. A pulse-check on why this HR series exists and what tugged me on over here in the first place. I hope my thoughts can be of service. ❤