New: Collective decisions – the Book of Blogs

Things you need to know – new things are here… read on….don’t think you’ve seen it all before. There are some decisions to be made and you need to be aware of them – even if you don’t want to have a say. If you haven’t seen any of the blogs regarding this before I’d suggest you start here https://ddsouzadotcom.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/the-book-of-blogs-if-we-build-it/ PART A – General update The deadline is still 16th August for submissions. If you can get them in earlier that would be great – as you can see from the list below the book if filling up nicely and with a great range of topics being written about (with genuine insight and flair). Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. If you are waiting on a reply from me for anything then please nudge me via Twitter and I’ll get back to you. I remain delighted that this is a genuinely international project and would like to thank Steve Browne and Broc Edwards for their support in the last week. We still lack a title. If you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments.  Simon Heath suggested ‘Practical Magic: Smoke, mirrors and human capital’ or ‘Human Realists: The future face of HR’. My suggestions have been nowhere near as good. Tim Scott has now suggested ‘Otherwise engaged’ – I think ‘Alternatively Engaged’ might also work. Select your favourite option to vote PART B – The money thing got a bit trickier, but not too tricky As anyone following this project knows we have been working on the assumption that Amazon will allow the book to be sold on Kindle for the grand price of free. Having investigated further (thanks to Simon Jones and Broc Edwards for the steer) Amazon will only publish under the following conditions

• It is exclusively available to Amazon for 90 days (this shouldn’t be a problem)
• We set a price of at least 99c (a price greater than 0c is a problem if you don’t want to make money)
• We receive 70% of the sale price (I’m walking you through this slowly, 70% of 99c is still more than ‘no money’)
• We can only set the price to free for 5 days in every 90 (meaning 85 days out of 90 it isn’t free, thanks for sticking with me)

Since, as per the initial scope,  I really don’t want to make any money on this my suggestion is we proceed as follows 1. We continue to publish on Amazon 2. We charge the lowest possible price (bizarrely Amazon can raise it if it wants and we don’t control it, but that will be the starting point) 3. We make the book free for five days at the earliest possible opportunity 4. Any author who contributes can have an electronic version sent to them to upload to their Kindle (if they don’t want to brave the store) can have one 5. All proceeds go to charity If you have suggestions for charities please leave them in the comments. I will then either run a survey to select a charity or if we don’t have many suggestions we’ll divide the money between them. It won’t be much money, but it will be something towards a good cause. If you don’t want to progress with the book on these grounds I completely understand, let me know and I’ll remove any content you have entered Suggested charities so far: OCD Action, Mind, Brook Part C – update on bloggers, content and a refreshed FAQ

1. @simonheath1 – Simon Heath – submitted: A Sense of Proportion (as well as contributing an entry, the incomparable Simon Heath, will also be creating the cover illustration)
2. @Projectlibero – Jon Bartlett
3. @TimScottHR – Tim Scott submitted: There’s no such thing as ‘best practice’
4. @HR_Gem – Gemma Reucroft submitted: A little more conversation
5. @OD_optimist – Meg Peppin submitted:Trust me, I’m in HR
6. @dougshaw1 – Doug Shaw – submitted: In Fear of Fear 
7. @LadyLoki – Niki Rosenbaum
8. @ruchikaabrol – Ruchika
9. @Malcolmlouth – Malcolm Louth
10. @StephenTovey13 – Stephen Tovey submitted: Watch the children play
11. @paperclipgirl – Louisa de Lange
12. @Jawaddell – Julie Waddell submitted: Succession planning: Corporate snakes and ladders
13. @HRManNZ – Richard Westney – submitted: Collaboration is the new Competitive Advantage
14. @sterling_amanda – Amanda Sterling submitted: What can HR learn from Lean manufacturing?
15. @Jsarahwatshr – Jane Watson
16. @KateGL – Kate Griffiths-Lambeth submitted: People are strange
17. @KingfisherCoach – Ian Pettigrew submitted: Finding ‘friends’ you don’t like!
18. @conmossy – Conor Moss
19. @dds180 – me
20. @bphilp – Bob Philpin submitted: Hiring our way out of the UK Leadership Crisis with Big Data
21. @fourgroups – Four Groups – submitted: A Physics of People
22. @sukhpabial – Sukh Pabial – submitted: What is hope?
23. @verawoodhead – Vera Woodhead – submitted: No need to act like a Man. Women in leadership
24. @myhr_nz    – Jason Ennor submitted: Building a slide at work: A true HR competency?
25. @BenMorton2 – Ben Morton –submitted: Leadership in a VUCA world
26. @IanandMJ -Ian Davidson –submitted: Why thinking in averages is below average thinking
27. @ariadneassoc – Simon Jones
28. @octopusHR – David Richter submitted: The Innovator’s Dilemma – Would you do any different? 
29. @MrAirmiles – Jose Franca
30. @MorrisElise – Elise Morris
31. @sineadcarville – Sinead Carville
32. @engagingemma – Emma Lloyd submitted: It is decision time ~ Round 1 ~ Heart vs Brain?
33. @kat_hounsell – Kat Hounsell submitted: A Human Instinct
34. @fuchsia_blue – Julie Drybrough
35. @pontecarloblue – Amanda Arrowsmith submitted: Let’s be more Avengers than Minions
36. @wendyaspland – Wendy Aspland submitted: if the workplace were a motorway
37. @HRswitchon – Nicola Barber submitted: Bubble Busters
38. @mervyndinnen – Mervyn Dinnen
39. @damiana_HR – Damiana Casile
40. @EmilydouglasHC – Emily Douglas
41. @MeghanMBiro – Meghan Biro
42. @DwaneLay – Dwane Lay
43. @PamelaRoss – Pamela Ross
44. @Nicky_T – Nicky Texeira
45. @Lembitopik – Lembit Öpik  submitted: HR challenges on the USS Enterprise
46. @LetSdeG – Leticia S. de Garzón submitted: Everyone needs a bad boss
47. @zoemounsey – Zoe Mounsey
48. @Susanpopoola – Susan Popoola
49. @academyofrock -Peter Cook submitted: Punk Rock HR -A Manifesto for Simplicity, Brevity and Authenticity in HR
50. @mindstrongltd – Tracey Davidson submitted: RIP Unproductive, Boring Meetings – How to Breath Life Back into Your Meetings 
51. @brocedwards – Broc Edwards
52. @sbrownehr – Steve Browne submitted: Release your inner Dali!
53. @workessence – Neil Usher submitted: Barefoot in the heart: Part 3
54. @injiduducu – Inji Duducu submitted: The Simple Key to High Performance Organisations
55. @Honeydew_health – Honeydew Health submitted: The Absence Acid Test
56. @AnneTynan – Anne Tynan submitted:Disabled HR Professionals = An Enabled Human Resources Profession

FAQ (it stands for Faked Anticipated Questions) Why did you decide to do this?  I had the idea on a whim when I was thinking about crowdsourcing and in particular this list of HR social influencers http://list.ly/l/5qg. It seemed like a nice community project and, as I enjoy the content shared on HR blogs so much, I thought it might be nice to collate it. I then shot out an impulsive tweet and things took off from there. So, what is your motivation? My motivation is very much about giving people an open space to create as individuals, whilst at the same point creating something as a group. I’m unlikely to get a job from this (if you’d like to hire me have a look at goo.gl/fySbh  ) but  I currently have some space in my days I thought it would be fun to build something. The book will be priced at free *update 30/07 -when it isn’t available as free it will be priced as cheaply as possible – and all proceeds will go to charity*, so this isn’t a stealth commercial project. It is a community project, plain and simple. I like ideas, I have the time to invest in helping and motivating people to share theirs. If you agree to take part then please understand that this is the ethos and don’t ask be complicated questions about who owns the rights etc. I simply don’t know and am probably disinclined to make things more complicated, if you are worried about this then just don’t take part. If you can think of it as a giant collection of guest blogs then you are in the right place. What are the entry criteria? Anyone can contribute – it can be their first blog or their hundredth. It can be new or their favourite old blog. It just needs to make sense standing alone. I’m sort of hoping that we do get to showcase some new bloggers and that the experience helps them go on to create more, that would make the project worthwhile in itself. There is no quality control – if someone has taken the trouble to write it then I will take the time to publish it. I haven’t approached anyone directly as I wanted people who were involved in the project and didn’t want to place any pressure on people to contribute. Please don’t attempt to sell a product – that is the only thing that won’t be acceptable. What are the timescales? A month from today for the content (!) should be enough for the length of writing required. So by 16/08 please have your content submitted or uploaded (see below). If you are able to do it earlier then please do, as there is only one of me so having 30 arrive on deadline day will doubtless cause issues. *cough, cough* but you don’t know anything about publishing do you?  No, I don’t, good spot. I do, however, love new technology and I’m also able to use Google. The combination of these things has led me to PressBook which is like a communal WordPress tool that will allow people to upload their own content and then for me to publish the content as an eBook to make available on Amazon etc. So we are all uploading our own material? It would be really helpful if once you have written it you could upload it yourself. If you write it in WordPress it brings everything over quite painlessly.Send me your email, I’ll send you a log in and then you can just paste your material in as a new chapter *update 22/07 – apparently this is quite painless*. Click on text and then new chapter… If this seems like the scariest process in the world then there is a two step process i) attempt it yourself, you only get to live this life once and being in fear of useful things isn’t very useful ii) send me your content directly – I don’t want anyone to suffer undue emotional distress in what should be a pleasant process How will the book be structured? I’m undecided. I might attempt to collate similar entries together or deliberately leave them apart. Who knows? It’s fun embracing an open approach. What if everyone writes on the same topics?  I don’t think they will, but if they do then we will still have a book – just on a narrow range of topics. My experience is that people have their own style which means at the very least people will offer different angles on topics. Is there anything I can’t do? Please don’t link to any material that we don’t have rights for.  I like putting video and pictures in my blogs, if you are doing so then please make sure you aren’t breaking the law when you are doing so. What will it be called? I haven’t a clue. I’m accepting suggestions. In fact if you send me suggestions I’ll run a poll and we can choose together. That is how collaborative this can be. Can I contact you with questions? Yes, I’m weak on Geography, but I’m pretty strong in most other areas. You can vote more than once below…