Leading by Example: SHRM's new chief executive officer believes effective HR helps change the world - Interview - Society for Human Resource Management head Susan R. Meisinger

HR Magazine, June, 2002

The standing ovation was long and sustained after Ommy Strauch, SPHR, chair of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Board of Directors, announced to the SHRM staff that the board had voted unanimously to appoint Susan R. Meisinger, SPHR, as the Society's president and chief executive officer. Meisinger, who has been a senior executive at SHRM for 15 years, succeeds Helen Drinan, SPHR, who resigned in February. Anyone who knows Meisinger says three words sum up her career at SHRM.-dedication, integrity and passion. She has shown an unwavering devotion to both the HR profession and SHRM and truly believes the Society and its members can make a profound difference in the workplace and in people's lives. She recently sat down with Bill Leonard, senior writer for HR Magazine, to talk about her new job at SHRM and her goals and vision for the future of SHRM and the HR profession.

HR Magazine: When you first started your career in human resource management, didn't you intend to work as an attorney?

Meisinger: I worked as a legal secretary right after I graduated from college. I found out pretty quickly that it wasn't the job for me, but I did learn while working at the law firm that I was interested in pursuing a law degree. I realized by interacting with the attorneys at the firm that I definitely could be a lawyer. The experience gave me enough confidence to apply to law school, and I ended up attending the National Law Center at George Washington University [in Washington, D.C.]. It was a four-year program and classes met five nights a week while I worked full-time during the day.

HR Magazine: So how did earning a law degree translate into a career dedicated to the HR profession?

Meisinger: While I was in law school, I worked with the Associated Builders and Contractors, a trade association that provided regulatory guidance and assistance on non-discrimination, affirmative action and wage-and-hour issues for the construction industry. And then I was recruited into the Department of Labor as an executive assistant and ultimately served as Deputy Undersecretary for the Employment Standards Administration.

HR Magazine: How did your experience with the Labor Department shape your current management style?

Meisinger: When I headed the Employment Standards Administration, I had a staff of 4,000 employees and budget responsibility of $2.5 billion. On a day-to-day basis, I really saw the whole range of management issues any organization of that size and magnitude would have. In a sense, it calmed me because after a while it took a lot to surprise me. I frequently had to testify in front of Congress--and very often before committees that didn't share the views of the administration that I was representing. So I learned how to handle those kinds of situations.

HR Magazine: You began working for SHRM in 1987 as vice president of government affairs. Did you imagine then that you might eventually become president and CEO of the organization?

Meisinger: I think that I had always hoped for it, but when I came to SHRM, it wasn't with that particular goal in mind. But the longer I stayed with SHRM, I really came to believe in what the organization does, and I believe strongly in the Society's mission. I believe in what we can offer HR professionals, and I believe that whatever SHRM does matters to the HR profession and ultimately to the workplace as a whole. If we do our job well on behalf of the membership, we help members and companies and organizations be more effective and have better results within those organizations. I think we're really about changing the world.

HR Magazine: SHRM has been through some leadership changes over the past 18 months. With the retirement of Michael Losey at the end of 2000 and then the resignation of Helen Drinan as president and CEO 14 months later, SHRM members and staff probably feel some anxiety about the future direction of the Society. How do you address these anxieties and try to put people's minds at ease?

Meisinger: I think that the Society is on a solid path to continue to enhance and improve the benefits that the Society provides to its membership. SHRM is also in an excellent position to place a greater focus on advancing and promoting the HR profession.

I think the strategic review--the effort that we completed at the end of last year--truly helped us to focus on the Society's core benefit package. We looked carefully at some key questions such as: What is the core that our members want and expect from us? How do we enhance the value of that core to better serve HR professionals? How can we use the success that SHRM has experienced over the past 10 years to leverage our position to do more to help advance the profession and enhance the value of what the profession has to offer?

I think the Society is now in the position, after completing this strategic analysis, to provide the services that HR professionals need and demand. As we strive to meet these goals, SHRM can now leverage its activities and influence to advance that profession. I think we have a wonderful future.