Five Years in the Making

Take a moment and picture yourself five years ago. In the US, we were about a month into Covid-19. The world was changing rapidly, and no one knew what the future would look like.

For me, this entailed picking my head back up after pushing through my last semester of grad school, where nothing – not even Covid – was going to derail finishing strong. Then, I turned my sights to starting a blog following a word of encouragement from Deena Ebbert to chase my professional goals. I was eager to continue writing and contributing to my field outside of academic papers.

Somehow, I thought launching a blog on 4/20 of all dates was a smart idea. Afterall, my mom and maybe five other people would read it.

Little did I know…five years later:

• A blog would morph into an eBook, a collection of free resources and a little consulting

• The opportunity to speak at conferences and on podcasts and write articles for other publications

• Engagement from 59 countries

• Over 5,000 page views, including 1,100 on one article alone

Breadth, depth and data result in “pinch me” moments; however, what keeps me going and helps me know I’m headed in the right direction is that I write today for the same reasons I did at the beginning. I write because I have a viewpoint that I hope encourages, empowers and inspires someone – someone like my sister, a fast-developing junior HR professional. I don’t write to be popular or say the trendy, easy thing. Instead, cloaked in a metaphor or a bit of sass, I seek to write practical, action-oriented pieces that advance the fields of HR, workplace culture and leadership development.

Today’s Unicorn Talent has and always will call for a focus on the dignity and worth of all talent. By flipping the Talent Acquisition “unicorn talent” metaphor on its head, Today’s Unicorn Talent recognizes the unique, unrepeatable and “magical” facets that each of us bring to the workplace. Employees’ individuality, authenticity and wealth of experiences make them of outstanding value to organizations. Unicorns are not the few, but the many. How would the workplace change if we transformed how we view talent?

Writing without expectation, I am humbled that so many of you have gone on this journey with me. I hope a few of the pieces have made you think, maybe chuckle, but most importantly, I hope they have given you the courage and insight to take action to care for the unicorns around you.

To the Point

With overwhelming thanks, here’s to another five years!   

Image sources: Unicorn Cake and GIF courtesy of Wix