By Liz Ryan

IT DOESN'T COMPUTE.  You need a software application to demonstrate to the CEO why it's fiscally responsible to develop leaders? Oh dear.

I fear the real problem is HR leadership credibility. It's lacking. When a leader is credible, people listen. We have a bad habit of putting noncharismatic, noncompelling business people into HR leadership spots, and it doesn't help the profession or our companies. If you want to make the case that building a robust organization is good for business, and you have to do that by means of an algorithm, you've already lost the war.

Back to our beginning example. As an HR person, if I need to approve a six-figure signup bonus on the fly, I should do it -- and take my lumps if someone objects. Why, oh why would I run around looking for the CFO?

TOOTHLESS LEADERS.  I know the reporter spoke from experience. In some companies the head of HR can't approve first-class airfare, much less a $100,000 impulse buy. Even so, being reminded of the powerlessness of HR frosts me.

In a heated supplier negotiation, does the vice-president of procurement seek out the CFO? Does the marketing vice-president consult the CFO before purchasing that expensive center-of-the-book advertising spread in a national business publication? Not if it's the right thing to do.

We HR leaders are parties to our own powerlessness -- and the reason is that we accept it. If we believe that the best companies deserve HR people who make a difference, how can we justify staying at second- or third-tier employers? Why do we push what should be the most gut-level, fundamental agendas (People matter, let's hire the best and Keep them, and so on) with articles clipped from periodicals and with research studies?

KOOL-AID, ANYONE?  Because we're afraid. Because it's hard to say dammit, if we keep losing middle managers to the competition, we are dead, and we need to pay them properly. Because it's really very hard to say to the CEO: "People don't feel they can speak honestly to you. You need to be open to bad news, if you want to know what's really going on."HR people, when they walk around the palace of the naked emperor pretending the guy is in Versace, are worse than toadies. Instead of ministers of culture, they're more like royal Kool-Aid mixers, encouraging everyone to have another cup.

In my first HR job, I was the quintessential bringer of watermelons to the company picnic. I arranged parties. I brought in a 401(k) plan and a credit union. I gave people tissues when they came into my office to cry about their evil bosses. I did the best I could, but I couldn't change what was wrong in that place. And I worked a lot of late nights, past midnight, so I got to know the security guards well.

WORDS OF WISDOM.  One night my friend, a guard who was finishing his Ph.D. in philosophy, said to me:"You are friendly and engaging. If someone interviews with you, they want to work here. They think it's a great place. But you know, this is not such a great place for a lot of these people. The jobs are mostly dead-end, and the parties and picnics don't compensate for that. How do you feel about selling this place to people who, on your word, come here, or stay here when things are really bad?"

I took the feedback to heart, and struck out for my next opportunity. After all, I get up in the morning to do good work, and I have pride in myself. Why stay in a place where I can't make things happen?

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