Author Archives: Paul LaLonde

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” – Heraclitus This is a story of how I changed. How I could have been part of MAGA, but somehow along the way, I took another route in life. Before I dig in tooContinueContinue reading “People Can Change, If They Want To”

Photo by Benni Fish on Pexels.com “I am not a self-made man. You understand that you are here because of a lot of help then you also understand that now is time to help others.’” – Arnold Schwarzenegger Martin Luther King, Jr. doesn’t need me to write about him. So, I won’t. I’ve actually writtenContinueContinue reading “The Hivemind”

“Fascism is cured by reading, and racism is cured by traveling.” — Often attributed to Miguel de Unamuno I’m not going to pretend that 2025 was normal. It wasn’t. These are not normal times (if any such thing as ever really existed). DO NOT let ANYONE convince you that any of what is happening isContinueContinue reading “My Top Books I Read in 2025”

When will this nightmare be over? Tell meWhen can I empty my head?Will someone tell me the answer?Is God really dead? — God Is Dead?, Black Sabbath, 2013 SHRM has been hit with wave after wave of bad news lately with the recent news crescendo of them having been hit with an $11.5 million verdictContinueContinue reading “SHRM Is Dead: Nietzsche, HR, and the Rebirth That Follows Ruin”

“I am bound to do good to my fellow-creatures and bear with them.” – Marcus Aurelius  “Never regret being a good person, to the wrong people. Your behavior says everything about you and their behavior says enough about them.” – Bruce Lee I’ve been wrestling with a personal and moral dilemma: Whether or not toContinueContinue reading “On the Fence: Should I Stay or Should I Go?”

“I have found that, to make a contended slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one.” – Frederick Douglass A recent post on Medium titled “White People Do Not Know History, They Only Know Mythology” caught my eye. I have little doubt that Americans by and large know very little of this country’s actualContinueContinue reading “Getting American History Right”

“I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert… Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped onContinueContinue reading “SHRM, That Colossal Wreck”

Photo by ben gursky on Pexels.com “Conquer anger with non-anger; conquer badness with goodness; conquer meanness with generosity; conquer dishonesty with truth.” – Dhammapada, Verse 223 I’ve been broken. Over the past year, I’ve slowly lost myself. The world was turning me bitter, angry, hateful. Or, more accurately, I was allowing myself to turn meContinueContinue reading “I’ve Been Broken: Fixing Myself Through The HR Philosopher Manifesto”

Going through my CD collection and found some hidden gems from my youth. “The power of people, when they focus on something positive, never fails to amaze me.” — Ozzy Osbourne, I Am Ozzy I’ve written many times about how heavy metal music changed my life. It gave me focus, inspiration, an outlet. It helpedContinueContinue reading “Thank You, Ozzy for Teaching Me These 10 Life Lessons from Your Wild, Wounded, and Inspiring Journey”

“The great distinguishing qualities of General Grant were truth, courage, modesty, generosity and loyalty. He was loyal to every work and every cause in which he was engaged.” – Major General Grenville Dodge “Nobody could watch [Grant] without concluding that he was a remarkable man. He handles those around him so quietly and well, he soContinueContinue reading “The Tragedy of Ulysses S. Grant: The Hero America Doesn’t Deserve, but Desperately Needs”