HR Star: Ben Eubanks

The cool thing about the online HR community is how it can expose you to people doing really great things way earlier than before. The probability of meeting a guy like Ben Eubanks was infinitely small as he is in Alabama and I am in Washington and we likely wouldn’t have gone to the same conference for a decade. Then assuming we connected, it would still take me a long time to figure out that he was doing great things.

While Eubanks has been in HR for less than two years, his impact has been felt thanks to an online community that democratizes influence, content and respect. So how does one get to this spot?

When he was looking at careers, he thought management might be the way to go. He had seen the way people issues had impacted businesses and knew that it would be a lingering challenge so he thought management might be the right track. But after a professor assigned a paper on HR, he found his match. “As I started researching the profession, I realized that this was what I had been searching for,” he said. “I knew right then and there that I wanted to move into HR once I graduated, and that’s where I’ve been ever since.”

An HRevolution

He has co-organized two HR unconferences known as HRevolution (along with a third one coming in April 2011(=). As an attendee, I can tell you these have both been fantastic (and different events) and definitely a grassroots movement among some of the more involved HR pros online. A one day event, it brings together people to discuss HR issues in an informal setting. There are planned tracks and preparation but most conversation is on the fly.

What has always been interesting to me is how much the experience changes with changes in participants. Unconferences put an enormous amount of responsibility onto the participants and it makes HRevolution a dynamic event. The two events put on in the last year were different from each other but had a common purpose of exploring HR from all kinds of angles.

Eubanks says about the coming HRevolution, “This event will be better than ever and we can’t wait to get it rolling.” True to its name, HRevolution has continued to evolve and has even inspired another event in Omaha happening this week.

Project: Social and More

He is also working on a project I mentioned before with Victorio Milian called Project: Social. As I described last week:

The core of the program is to match up current social media users with professionals who are looking for help. With so much interest in social media from HR professionals and typically only 60-90 minutes to talk about issues in a large group format, it is great to be able to give HR professionals a next step to take in the process of learning. What I’ve found from mentoring is that it isn’t time consuming and people just need a nudge to do what you do automatically.

And when he is not working on all of that, he is pumping out resources and content for his excellent blog Upstart HR. Everything from PHR study guides, ebooks and other resources that have helped Eubanks excel early in his career.

My hope is that Eubanks continues bringing enthusiasm, sharing knowledge and being a contributor to the HR community. He’s figured out the magic sauce that I always try to share with people who are interested in increasing influence and visibility: you have to give without the expectation you’ll receive and your stuff has to be good. It’s great for the entire HR community that he is involved and willing to give. And a great example that you don’t have to spend 10-20 years in the industry to make a real contribution.

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