A Favorite Rebrands

I have followed Suzanne Lucas's business writing for quite some time, and first heard of her because of her humorous alias, The Evil HR Lady. But after nearly twenty years of writing, she has decided to rebrand, and gives her reasons.

This one resonates strongly with me, since it is a welcome change from the tone that dominates so much commentary these days:

Exhausted? Try this. (Image by Nathan Dumlao, via Unsplash, license.)

I want to be more positive

I definitely have strong opinions and am not scared to share them, but I'm not at all interested in dividing the world. I firmly believe that most people are good people trying their best.

I wanted a brand that focused on the good rather than on division. I wanted to focus on making things better, not just pointing out what was wrong. The name "Improve Your HR" focuses on making things better.

Life is tough out there. HR should make both business owners' and employees' lives easier--that's what good HR does. I want to make HR people's lives easier so they can make your lives easier. Focusing on positive things helps with that. [bold added]

It was not through her Inc column that I learned of the rebrand: The new blog masthead hit me with Improve Your HR as soon as I stopped by. I was glad to see Evil HR Lady in the byline, as I imagine her other fans are, too.

Humor and even, today, negativity have their place for getting attention, but the best commentary goes on the offensive by helping overcome problems. Lucas has been doing this for some time in my view, but I am glad to see someone else I respect stepping back for a moment and calling in this way for more constructive discourse in general.

-- CAV