I was re-introduced to the work of Victorio Milian through Franny Oxford. We were having a conversation about people who were doing cool things in the blogging world and she mentioned him. I was following him on Twitter before but not super closely. The title of his blog captured my attention though: Creative Chaos Consultant. Or the “Trip C’s” if you’re in the know. I thought it was brilliant so I started following him on his blog and paid careful attention to him on Twitter.
There’s always this light that goes off in my head when someone digs what they are doing, does great things in the space and was willing to share some things along the way. Those are big pluses for me but what was really cool about Milian is the commitment to traditional HR people.
Going From Retail Management to HR
Milian is a 20 year veteran of the retail industry. That’s not an easy gig for many folks (including yours truly) but he took a liking to it. After holding various management roles, he was asked to do a little work in recruiting. He said, “In retail you’re always hiring people so I started on the recruitment side, working on a few small to mid-size projects.”
From there, he took a run at in-store HR supporting 200 employees as a generalist and after that, he moved up into a corporate role implementing automated time and attendance software throughout the chain. Since then, he has spent most of his time in corporate HR as an employee relations generalist. “I handled policies, procedures, investigations, expat assignments, employee handbooks and other communications,” he said. “You know, the sexy stuff.”
What really keeps him engaged in an HR role are the people. As he says, “When you get people right you can do some amazing things, whether it’s through hiring, training, or motivating them in the right way. I’m a direct product of people’s faith in my abilities and potential.” He counts colleagues and other HR professionals as friends in the field with a little help from social media. Speaking of social media…
Project: Social
One of the things that’s inspiring about Milian is his devotion to action. For example, we had a conversation late last month about resources for HR people who want to learn more about social media. I was doing a presentation about social media to a group of about 60 people the next day and was continuing to find inadequate resources to help people out. What sprang from that was Project: Social, a mentoring program spearheaded by Ben Eubanks and Milian.
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.
I’m looking forward to seeing more about this project as it takes place.
Looking forward
Another thing that keeps Milian in the game is mobile learning. As he so eloquently puts, “As someone who won’t be going back to college anytime soon, I recognize the need to stay up to date. Almost everything I do now when it comes to learning (reading blogs, podcasts, videos, conversations with thought leaders and creatives) I do through my phone.” He is working on developing a version of his HR101 series for the Blackberry.
Milian is inspired by other leaders in the online HR space such as Jessica Lee (of Fistful of Talent), Kris Dunn (of the HR Capitalist) and Lisa Rosendahl (of Simply Lisa) as they spent time to reach out to him early in his blogging days. In his HR career, he credits those who have doubted and underestimated him to help drive him to become a better practitioner and gain his SPHR certification.
Sounds like Milian is the Michael Jordan of HR. Though at your Hall of Fame induction, you might want to leave off the list of all the people who have doubted you.
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October 21, 2010 at 10:14 am
Great article, Lance!
Victorio was one of the first people who made an effort to connect with me from the HR world when I got on Twitter. I was just a little accountant wanting to broaden my horizons. Little did I know, Victorio had a not-so-secret love of spreadsheets.
When he wanted to talk on the phone, I was so nervous. I thought it was really strange that someone I had exchanged a few messages with would want to actually have a conversation! Now I understand that this is how Twitter really helps people connect.
I’m so glad that he wasn’t a chicken like I was. As a newbie, I thought Twitter was just like a dance in junior high, where we are all looking around at each other and hoping someone asked us to dance. When Victorio “asked me to dance,” I was so excited. It also gave me the courage to ask others to get out on the floor and shake it.
Victorio continues to pay it forward over a year later, and he and Ben are going to make an awesome team on Project Social. Nice work, y’all!