Michael Homula
Susan Burns
Kevin Wheeler
Steve Fogarty
Chris Hoyt
Craig Fisher
Jenny DeVaughn
Albert Chew (my Chief People Officer)

I look forward to growing this list as a community of influencers is very important as we all look to continue our own development through the new recruiting world. Great list John!

- Laurie Ruettimann, PunkRockHR
- Dan Schawbel, Personal Branding Author
- Lindsey Pollak, Career Advice Author; Gen Y & Workplace

Polly Pearson

Knowing me I might well have missed it along the way, but if no one has yet put forth Pete Weddle’s name, I would add it to your list.

Dave

As for me – my top 5:

John Sumser
Jason Davis
David Manaster
Jeff Hunter
Gerry Crispin

Others:
Kris Dunn – newer voice but his work at FOT is huge
Susan Burns
Dan Hilbert
John Sullivan
Kevin Wheeler
Danny Cahill
Peter Leffkowitz
Bill Radin
Shally Steckerl

You know better than to ask a loaded question like this. (just kidding). You really will get a thousand (or more) different answers when asking this. I do want to say that personally I detest the “self-promoters”. These are the people who think way to highly of themselves because they’ve “successfully” run their own desk years ago and now feel they can train and teach us.

I’ve sat in on countless webinars of these people and besides the fact that they are neither charismatic nor enlightened, they also seem to not truly be connected with how recruiting is today (not in the 90′s or seven or eight years ago but right now). They are what I call “Ivory Tower Dwellers”.

But going back to your article, as always I enjoyed your work and look forward to seeing more. It seems that in our industry, there are no more heroes. Only self-promoters who find it more important to see how many times their names have been Googled than to actually connect with their colleagues in the industry. That’s kind of sad actually but I’m not worried about them. I keep my eye on another prize.

Thanks much,

Sung N. Kim
Managing Partner
Servane Cross, Inc.

What time must one take from other things extremely important to us to become more powerful or prestigious? The last time I missed a dinner with my Fiance because I was tweeting with my Crackberry, it didn’t go over well. And you know what? She was right and I get it – it was a moment of once again realizing what is truly important in life.

So what is the true opportunity cost? . . . and more importantly, how do you convert the assumed power and prestige of ‘influence’ to cash if you’re a real recruiter, meaning one of us who actually do the job (internal or external) that so many of the ‘Influencers’ simply speculate and opine about?

For example, many of the Special Forces operators on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan won’t be attending military balls and officer galas today – nope, they’re camouflaging up, knocking down doors, and doing the job that top brass likes to think they actually understand. And in that sense, are the operators actually doing the job at the ground level any less influential than those dictating policy from the air-conditioned, highly secure, Command-and-Control center? Of course they are – in fact, they’re more ‘influential’ because they’re actually moving, shaking, and doing the job.

I’ve noticed that the more we attempt to influence the outside world (or market) through tweeting, blogging, chatting, etc., the less we influence our own. For example, I have pulled back from the Recruitosphere and seen my billings double, despite the recessionary economy. The time I spent blogging and tweeting is now spent volunteering for associations within my niche and/or on the phone with decision makers. And I’d be remiss not to mention that many of the most fanatical social media-centric recruiters are now hunting for new contracts again (ironically, using social media as their primary resource, thereby perpetuating the cacophonous beating of the marketing drums).

So does pulling back and reinvesting in our current job, role, or vertical market make me, or any one of us, ‘less influential’? Perhaps the answer is “yes” when viewed through the Recruitosphere lens, but what about through the eyes of our Clients and Candidates? In their eyes, many of us have become more influential.

The only thing I’d ask about this worthwhile endeavor is to use a discerning eye when it comes to the politics of what you’re doing. We don’t need another Mayoral election in our space – they accomplish nothing except give some of us another ‘badge of recognition’ to add to our blogs or email signatures.

By the way, is it ok if I send the electoral committee a gift of $25 or less? (P.S. I don’t beat marketing drums, but play a trumpet instead, so as I understand our market, I’m ineligible for such a powerful and prestigious distinction.) Of course, I’m just kidding, and I do wish you the best of luck with this promotion.

Michael McNeal- Imagining the impossible and making it happen ( The Innovator)

Carol Mahoney- Believing in her people to make it happen ( The Grower)

Rob Lake- Military Leader in the operations Art Of War
( The Executor)