On March 24th, 2011 my client, Informatica was recognized with the 2011 ERE Recruiting Excellence Award for the category of as "Most S... The award was based on the talent strategy architecture I developed this past year to establish a sustainable talent library founded upon a robust, competitive intelligence model. More significantly, the research oriented product was made actionable, as a plug and play resource for our talent acquisition team to access search syntax which could adopt and refine itself in progressive updates.

The award is the result of an aspiration to contribute on behalf of the corporate staffing industry in a meaningful and substantive way. It is a recognition of which I am grateful and humbled by and, as such, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on the mentors, clients and friends which assisted in making this achievement possible.


First and Foremost, I thank my friend and mentor, Shally Steckerl, Leading Global Recruitment and Sourcing Consultant..., for his hands-on guidance and support of my career goals,his thought leadership contributions and curriculum; all of which resulted in fundamentally changing the way I process and produce in regards to my craft. Years ago, he took the time and patience to smash my prior perceptions and "rebuilt" the thought engine of how I looked at data. It was his family that took me in and became my own when I was unknown and and a virtual blank slate. Shally took the care to review my nomination submittal draft and in those hours as in always; never refrains from challenging my thought process to his credit. His influence directly fueled my world travels as a speaker and opened my eyes in a way I never expected.


The award itself could not have been possible had it been for Brad Cook, Vice President of Talent Acquisition Management at Infor.... It was his recognition and investment in the feasibility and potential of my talent strategy proposal that produced the staging ground for this effort to become reality. He has been a remarkable corporate staffing visionary, eager to embrace new ideas and enact technology-based change , globally within the organization. I am proud to have him as a client and, most of all, a friend who genuinely contributes to my evolving consultation practice.

I thank Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business Division; more popularly known as its Gaming function, and it's forward thinking, staffing management, Greg Hart and Danielle Monaghan for the opportunity to provide an industry best practices review which helped formulate some of the actionable recommendations that evolved into the basis of this award. Prior drafts of a competitive intelligence workbook were incomplete, until the broader vision of a product based, social media landscape roadmap were fine tuned within the best practices model in my deliverable. It was conceived at Microsoft and implemented as a refined proposal to be enacted at Informatica.


I thank Carol Mahoney and Danielle Monaghan, as both former clients, friends and thought leaders for their encouragement and actionable input on both my deliverables and career navigation. The two are remarkable women and their leadership style says much about how they have molded, and in many ways, reinvented organizations in environments of change. I call them my "mentor goddesses" and say so with a smile because I truly look up to them and thank them for caring about my career and my personal development.

What makes them directly attributable for this award is that both looked at my efforts and saw a 'product.' It was their direct review of my work that had me see the potential of the direction in which I was taking talent data - and I say this without overly stating how important their influence was in this matter. I could just as easily had tinkered and moved on had they not noted the significance of what I was trying to develop.


I thank Gerry Crispin, sage of all encompasses true thought leadership in the talent industry. He has made a career of contributing data driven analysis to the tried and true of best practices and fostered much of the meaningful conversation of impact of social media and emphasized the human aspect within the digital divide. He has made a career of making others known and recognizing conversations outside the norm of the conference circuit. Indeed, he makes chatter into an industry conversation. Several years ago when Shally introduced me to him, it was a phone call out of the blue from Gerry a few days later that was memorable. He took the time to ask about my goals and ideas and provided encouragement to put them to paper. In all certainty, I mark that conversation with all the significance that it deserves. It brought me out of my old environment into the new. He likely tires of my remarks in this regard, but it is sincerely stated and important to voice that when thought leaders encourage others to the stage of ideas ... things happen.


All stated, nothing happens in a vacuum. My wife, Heidi, endures my long hours and my children, Tino and Siena Blue, recognize that my efforts contribute to their well being and for that I am consistently humbled and appreciative.

I thank the judging panel of the ERE Recruiting Excellence for this recognition, and I share it with every person who has taken the time to listen, question and encourage prior to and since.

I also thank people like Margo Rose, who contribute to the well being of others in a manner which doesn't get the same type of recognition in our industry. Helping others in need with the resources of the talent industry reminds us of the root meaning of our vocation. People like Dennis Smith, who as a staffing manager was one of the very first to take Web 2.0 into practice and whose humor and insights as one of the pioneer bloggers in recruitment encouraged my domain name purchase and first blog post. He is a life long friend who deserves continual recognition as a pivotal player in my professional brand development. He might as well have created a clock widget of the many he introduced me to, - to count down my blog creation.

Which leads me finally to ...

Thank you to my readers at SixDegreesfromDave.com for watching and reading as I have grown into who I am at home and at work. I promise to continue to contribute and share.

Best Wishes