By John Sumser
There is a profound difference between power and influence. Where power is the ability to get things done, influence is a context for doing things. Over the coming months, I am going to introduce you to a number of people who influence the HR – Recruiting Industry. I think many of the choices will surprise and delight you.
On a moment to moment basis, in the realm of tactical things, our universe doesn’t seem all that large. It’s normal for practitioners to have a nitty-gritty view and more than a few question the idea that non-practitioners have any influence. There’s even a loud chorus who proclaim the irrelevance of anyone who doesn’t have dirt under their fingernails today.
It’s a silly view, of course. While it is always important to validate key notions, every part of our universe is shaped by people who come into it from different backgrounds than ours. There are many who spend time learning the details and then shift to roles of influence.
Naomi Bloom is in the latter category. Having built a career in HR Software development in her early years, Naomi currently is a principal in the consulting firm, Bloom & Wallace in Florida. Ms Bloom has had her fingers in more HR related startups than any other person I can think of. She is the world’s expert on data structures and HR Systems Architecture.
In the early years of her career, Naomi hand coded enterprise HR software, building payroll systems, applicant tracking tools and other deep design projects. In those days, architectural clarity was everything. Memory was constrained and software was anything but fault tolerant.
Today, Naomi is the driver behind the software in a variety of settings. Almost any tool you can think of bears the marks of her thinking and conceptual impact. She’s been the best in her niche for so long that her presence is ubiquitous.
This is in spite of the fact that she rarely seeks the spotlight. Naomi prefers staying close to the work and delivering quantifiable results for her clients.
These days, she is helping software designers keep a bit of perspective. Web 2.0 delivered an enormous push for user engagement. Bloom has been around long enough to know where the pitfalls are.
“Amazon provides a model for both usability/functionality and strong underpinnings. It’s pretty, and it’s easy. Very importantly, you can get a status update in real time 24 hours a day. The same system that handles user interfaces handles all sorts of status info, routinely updated and routinely accessible. And when Amazon wants to add features, their underpinnings are strong enough to support that without disruption.
That should be the goal of HR software. Real time status, actionable reporting and non-disruptive functionality updates for all users.”
Like most great influencers, Naomi Bloom’s impact far exceeds her celebrity. She is responsible for the shape of the industry and the way people in it think about the areas of her expertise. It’s her chosen vocation to make the esoterics of the HR universe work intelligently in large scale software settings.
If you listen closely, you’ll hear her voice in a lot of the things you do.
Learn more about Naomi Bloom:
- Naomi Bloom on the Bill Kutik Radio Show
- SaaS Update: Embracing the Software Revolution (From Naomi’s columns in HRO Today)
- Naomi’s Articles on HRO Today (registration required)
- It’s All About The Models
