Should you make waves?

Making waves is a good thing right?  I mean, that's how you get noticed!  Why would you not want to come into a situation and think outside the box?  It only makes sense that the ones who make waves are the ones who get promoted.

The HRCapitalist recently published a post giving advice to young HR professionals or to those trying to break into the field. 

What about your HR career?  How do you compete as a Gen Y up and comer in the HR game when all the dinosaurs like me have the spots you want to grow into?

You change the game.  Get good at things the dinosaurs don't want to do but companies place value on.  Then stick with the plan.

Tired of that HR VP/Director standing in the way of your career progress?  How are you different than them?  What differences do you have that are marketable?

Most importantly, are you willing to find ways that you can contribute that are far from the norms you see but add tremendous value? Are you willing to use and market those contributions in a way that the establishment would mark as "socially horrifying"?

Socially horrifying.  I like the phrase, kind of gets you in the right frame of mind to think differently.

I can say that breaking into this field isn't easy.  I've found that although only 7% of the workforce in the Birmingham area has a Masters level education or above, hr insiders still seem to be reluctant to give an outsider much of a chance.  This coming from the department that is screaming about the importance of diversity, fresh thought, training, continuing education, and the like, from the rooftops.

Making waves is certainly important in this field.  Breaking into it or changing the face of it, HR needs to make waves.  Don't get complacent.  Don't think you've been doing what you're doing for long enough that you don't have to make waves.  At the same time, don't be discouraged.  All old fish had to be minnows at some point.

Make waves.  Make changes.  Keep pushing higher.  Keep Thinking!