2016 has not exactly been a banner year for my sports teams.  The Michigan State Spartans football team got blown up in the College Football Playoff by Alabama followed by its worst start to a Big Ten season since the 1990s.  The Spartan basketball team had an inexplicable loss in the opening road of the NCAA tournament.  The Green Bay Packers continue to under perform.  And, the Milwaukee Brewers?  Well, their season was over before it even started.

Yet, I still soldier on.  Why?  Take Bill Murray.

• Extremely successful career with numerous iconic roles (Carl Spackler, John Winger, Phil Summers...the list goes on)
• Rich many times over 
• Enough cachet and mystique that he can do almost anything and can get away with it because "no one will ever believe you."  My friends and I have our own Bill Murray encounter at the Bears-Packers NFC Championship game highlighted in the picture taken above (story here).

Yet for all the fame and glory Bill Murray has received, at the moment below, when the Chicago Cubs clinched a trip to their first World Series since 1945, none of that mattered.






As wealthy and successful as Bill Murray has been, he couldn't buy a moment like that if he tried, which made it all the more meaningful to him.

Here's hoping you have your own Bill Murray moment of joy this week.

I'm here in Orlando for the 2nd WorkHuman Conference (subtitled Even More Work and Even More Human).  Here are some quick takeaways from this morning's festivities:

The production has been top-notch

As somehow who has been involved in the planning of the WI SHRM State Conference for the past 10 years, I know the trials and tribulations of putting on a show.  They have done a magnificent job of being on brand, with quality facilities, good food, and stellar graphics for the presentation.  Even small touches have stood out, from a cookie/donut wall and coloring charts and tables, to fruit infused water and a holistic approach to the schedule.

Shawn Achor highlighted the importance of happiness

I had seen Shawn Achor speak before, and he continued to enrapture the audience in the ease with which he translated research into easy to understand practice.  According to Achor, it’s “the joy you feel striving toward your potential.” This potential extends beyond yourself to unlocking the potential in others.  As a result, the breadth and depth of social relationships are crucial to one's happiness.

We are still striving for answers when it comes to performance, recognition, and compensation

As Eric Mosley noted, clearly annual performance reviews are not working.  Similarly, lump sum bonuses given once have a short impact; less than six weeks.  And, compensation budgets for recognition continue to be tiny.  However, I'm not convinced more frequent, smaller bonuses are necessarily better.  Do $50 bonuses given 100 times over the year create more sustained motivation than a single $5000 bonus given once?  Does the 25th time one is awarded that $50 bonus have the same impact as the first, or are there diminishing marginal returns?