Recently, while recording a podcast, I found myself talking about something I’ve been thinking about for a long time: how much harder HR is than people give it credit for.
We tend to see HR as “soft” compared to the other seats in the C-suite. CFOs, COOs, and CTOs have hard numbers and clear metrics. They work in a world where things are either right or wrong. But HR? HR lives in the gray.
And I’ve come to believe this: HR is more art than science.
That’s exactly what makes it so hard—and so undervalued. This week’s Friday’s Five, explains why HR is so difficult (and undervalued):
1. HR Operates in the Messy Human World
Accounting and finance are governed by rules and logic. HR deals with human beings, which means emotions, personalities, conflicts, potential, and fear. There’s no formula for managing people. What worked brilliantly with one person may fail with another. It’s more like painting or composing music than solving math equations.
2. Hiring Is One of the Hardest—and Riskiest—Skills
It is widely known that highly experienced leaders are only about 50/50 when it comes to making successful hires. Why? Because interviews are theater. Candidates put forward their best selves, and your job is to see through the performance and predict how they will act under real pressure, on real teams, over real time.
That’s not a science. That’s pattern recognition, intuition, and sometimes luck—the hallmarks of art.
3. HR’s Wins Are Invisible
When HR does its job well, nothing...
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who gained national attention when he rejected President Trump's request to "find 11,780 votes" during the 2020 election, is running to become Georgia's next...