[SlideDeck id=’1149′ width=’100%’ height=’370px’] Anyone close to my circle of influence knows that January is my least favorite month of the year. Sure, I can skip over the anticlimactic holiday ho-hums. I can get past the wintery days, because I live in Florida. Simply stated, it’s nothing personal.

The #1 reason that I do not like January is the business blues that my clients seem to bring forward, year-after-year-after year! Year-end sales may be down. Bosses may be up (in arms) and poorly led organizations start the domino effect causing a downward spiral of morale. Retailers are the most brutally beat up. They take the most bumps and southpaw jabs.

Clients show up scarred with black and blue egos—struggling to reset their focus for their teams.

Just Say’n…

January 2012 has had one huge dark cloud hovering over a number of individuals. This month, I have heard everything from soup to nuts with the following as being the predominant issues:

• “I am on the short list…” (from one Senior HR VP)”
• “My boss told me to get off of linkedin.com (from mid-management). . He thinks this sends a message that I am not loyal.” (from mid-management) **Seriously???
• “I need my resume done….after I make cut backs, I am also getting the axe.” (CEO)

While 2/3 of the above are the norm these days and workable with effective problem solving strategies, the linkedin.com comment was glaring, scary and pause cause for concern. The comment was made by a senior executive to a senior level manager who suffused the statement throughout her team of direct reports (mid-managers). This of course eventually led to a phone call [to me] asking, “Am I wrong for wanting my linkedin.com profile to be up-to-date?”

While the majority of my clients are executives, I do hear from middle managers who can run circles around their bosses yet are caught in the spin cycle of “I need this job, I cannot quit, I am trying to stay on top of my profile and my boss is threatening me” saga.

In the spirit of being the “HR Lady” who educates, I am breaking it down, very simply for the executives having a difficult time with Linkedin.com and profile development of their subordinates.

Lackluster Linkedin.com = Lackluster Leadership…

Executive leaders who choose NOT to develop their online Linkedin.com profiles in retail, hospitality, marketing and sales industries may be perceived by recruiters, headhunters, management, employees and *stockholders as:

• Old school mentality, not current, elitist, out-of-the-loop and washed up.
• Damaging the brand of the organization.
• Flying under the radar hoping to go unseen…(hiding something?)

In a recent poll surveying executive retail recruiters and top-level industry executives on the subject at hand, 9 out of 10 individuals were “thumbs up” for advocating the development of social networking. The top reasons are listed below:

• I realize that my own on-line branding is important and I need to manage it regularly.
• The BRAND of the national retailer that I work for increases when my team has full profile access and visibility. It helps increase our profitability.
• I am able to network with individuals who are traveling in the same circles that I am which helps deliver a strong bench for future recruiting as well as positioning our brand in the forefront of our consumers.

Leading retail and hospitality companies are also building financial support into their budgets for training and branding development for their mid-level management. “Teaching our people to use Linkedin.com is in our budget for 2012″ stated one HR Executive Recruiter from a major retailer with stores based in high-end malls. “We want our people to be brand savvy, smart and accessible on Linkedin.com.”

When interviewing an executive from the CNN and Money  list of the top 100 best companies to work for in 2012, about whether she sees developed linkedin.com profiles as overexposing employees or enabling them to seek employment, she responded,  “No, we see this as being smart. We are branding our best. If an employee wants to leave the company, he/she is going to do it whether or not they are on linkedin.com. To tell an employee or leader to get off of linkedin.com, refrain from posting a picture or discouraging the person to obtain and post recommendations only defeats online branding.”

Circling back to my distraught mid-manager and his question…”No, you are not wrong for being pro-active in developing your linkedin.com profile. Own your brand and own your career! And, when you are finished updating your profile…check out www.Pinterest.com.  A MUST HAVE for those who are social media savvy and staying ahead of the curve!