Interviews from HR Innovator Magazine

Beyond the Basics

Jeff Perkins
Founder
Kessler Partners
Portsmouth, ME

Back in 1854 Henry David Thoreau wrote the famous words: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” in his landmark book, Walden. Not quite as famous, but equally to the point, these thoughts also appear: “What a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather, indicates his fate.”

These early thoughts linking the uniquely American values of fulfilling our potential with our life's work, along with overall self-esteem and peace of mind, hold true today – especially in the career path of HR. If you expect to be completely effective in HR, you must settle for nothing less than an organizational culture that respects and values the function – and recognizes the unique gifts you bring to the table. If you're in the wrong place, you will know it before anyone else, and only you can take the actions that will correct your circumstances.

A misstep can happen to anyone, even rising HR stars like Jeff Perkins. After the extraordinary good fortune of beginning his HR career at Pepsi-Cola, followed by long tenures at Dun & Bradstreet and AOL – including international assignments that sent him to London, Brussels, and Nicosia, Jeff decided the time was right to reach for the top spot. The decision was a good one, but the choice was doomed. Four months later, he resigned.

Today, he is the founding partner of Kessler Partners, an executive search and HR consulting firm, which has successfully recruited HR executives for the media, technology, insurance, retail and consumer package goods sectors. And he has built a solid reputation as a resource for human capital strategies – especially within companies experiencing critical changes.

In this interview Perkins talks about the necessity of combining timing and self-awareness with the ambition and dedication you need to continue fulfilling your own potential – to be the fully self-actualized person you've known all along that you are.

How did you get into HR?

I thought I was going to be a lawyer. But it was during my internship in a Philadelphia law firm that I noticed that the young lawyers didn't like their jobs. But I also noticed that many of their clients seemed to be happy with what they did. And they were HR execs.

My mother was also in HR at Alcoa – they made the caps for two-liter bottles. I took an internship working for my mother's boss my senior year. When I graduated from college, the plant HR Director there said, “I'll give you a job here, but first I think you should go and meet the folks at Pepsi. They're our biggest client and they have a great HR function.” And so my first HR job was with Pepsi. Dave Robino, the area employee relations manager at the plant where I worked talked me out of law school altogether.

Did you have a sense of a loftier purpose of HR at that point?

I was busy learning the basics, so I don't want to pretend that I did. There's a regimen approach to Pepsi's HR function; there's a binder for everything. I got that sense of loftier purpose later at Dun & Bradstreet and AOL.

When did you get the sense that “hmmmm, HR is about more than transactional activities?”

I got that very quickly because of the people I've worked for. In the beginning I had a mentor who was very principled and very much involved in activities other than traditional HR. I was having fun, and I was making a difference in the business. It is a great fit for who I am.

What do you say when you hear people talking about HR as the place where all dreams go to die?

I think HR organizations and careers are built one person at a time. Sometimes that reputation is deserved.

Do you think HR – as both a career and a function – is emerging from an era in which it was deserved?

There are no trends. It depends on the company, the person in the role, where the business is in its evolution, what it demands from HR, what HR is willing to offer. It's a beautiful thing when those things are matched up. When a company needs an HR function that's nimble, flexible, capable, and creative, and the individual HR executive has those qualities – and then they have the good fortune of finding each other – that's a rare and wonderful opportunity for both of them.

But there's often a gap between what HR has to offer and what the business actually wants from its HR function. And that gap is widened when businesses are out there espousing the principle that people are the most important asset, when they don't mean any of it. Then guess what? Dreams do die.

And what does that say to the individual HR people inside that function in terms of what they can reasonably expect out of their working days for themselves?

You have to be realistic about what you can do. You can still do grassroots kinds of efforts. And you can still make employees' engagement with the company better on a one-on-one basis. You do yourself and the organization a favor by trying to close that gap, but you also have to be realistic.

So how is it that all these people are settling for so little across the spectrum of HR? There's this mass of quiet desperation out there in the HR world. But there are so many people in HR who are incredibly talented, incredibly impassioned by the work they do, who are just plain frustrated that they can't find a way of putting that passion to good use.

It's about doing our best in the circumstances that we're in. All of us are inclined to do that until we're pushed to the limit, or in an alternative comes along that looks brighter. We have to keep cultivating options for ourselves.

And it's about keeping in mind that nothing is perfect. One of the reasons why we do what we do is that most organizations fall short in some way of meeting not only our expectations but also the employees' expectations. That's why we do what we do. If it were all perfect, HR wouldn't be needed. We have to put ourselves in circumstances and situations where we have the most to contribute.

But when we find ourselves in situations where it's not a good match, we need to move on. That change can come in a variety of forms. You can resign, you can find another role within the organization, you can begin to set boundaries on how you do your job.

So an imperfect situation is not necessarily that indicator. The imperfect situation indicates that you're needed.

Right. But you should also know when it's just plain unworkable. When your heart tells you, “this isn't for me,” you have to make a difficult call. Personally, I need to be a valued member of a management team. I need to be taken seriously. I need to be a respected decision maker in the company. And I need to be able to make a difference in what I do. When those things aren't working, I need to find a place where I can do those things.

What has been your biggest pleasant surprise in HR?

My biggest pleasant surprise is how the little things can make such a difference. To be told, “I need you here,” that's better than a paycheck.

After a successful run of a series of world-class companies where you stayed for five years or longer, you had a four-month period in a company that was all wrong for you. And you were pretty surgical about your decision to leave and leave quickly. Now that you have the benefit of hindsight, how would you have handled that differently?

There are a number of things I would have done differently. For starters, I would have had more patience with the company and taken the time to help them find my replacement. I would still have left, but I would have done it more smoothly and gracefully.

I gave the CEO a month's notice but I don't think it really registered with him. His attitude was basically, “Didn't you read the Fortune article? We're a great company!” Well, not on a day-to-day basis.

Even though you're busy with consulting and providing search services for client companies, you're still open to new opportunities yourself. If I were a CEO considering you for my top spot, I'd wonder, “Is he going to do the same thing to me?”

No. I learned a lot the last time. And it's important to remember that with every other company I had been with before, I was there at least five years. I have a track record of staying with companies. That's why with this last company, I wanted it to be done and done quickly. This past company has had a string of senior executives that didn't stay long. So they have to own their piece of this too.

Given that experience, what would you have to say to CEOs about making a choice of a top HR person that will last and be successful?

To CEOs I would say, “Be realistic about what you want in the HR function.” There's no right or wrong answer. If you're a Fortune 100 company out looking for a head of HR who is a stay-the-course HR person, then go find yourself one. If you're a start-up company and you want someone who is entrepreneurial, a risk taker, and can do the Powerpoint himself, go find that person. Whatever you do, don't be an executive in a business that's traditional and slow moving and say, “I want to revitalize the company through HR.” No one person can close that gap.

Now for the flip side of the question. Since you're recruiting HR execs, what's the single most important thing they can do to put themselves on the path to a gratifying career?

Be realistic about where you're going, what you're doing, how you choose to spend your time and talents and energy. Know what kinds of companies you choose to be associated with. Put yourself in a position that leverages all your strengths. Don't take a job that doesn't leverage the best of you.

Join organizations where you can be who you really are. For example, I wouldn't join an organization where the CEO doesn't know I'm gay. Not that I lead with that detail. I never do. But I also don't want it to be a surprise with the executives that I work with. I'm sure I've lost jobs over this, but that doesn't offend me. They would have been a bad match in the long run.

Does HR relieve pain, restore hope or bring beauty into the world?

It brings beauty into the world and restores hope. When HR has to offer what the business needs, that's bringing beauty into the world.

I think sometimes in organizations that our role is restoring hope. A lot of work is around employee communications, retention of key people and making sure that the business is making the right kinds of decisions. That's restoring hope in business. And that's what we do.

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2004 issue of HR Innovator magazine. Reprinted with permission.