Just when the world needed a 'pick me up', when consumer confidence was seriously lagging, along came someone by the name of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson is back. He is back big time. How about this for a statistic. MJ sold one million tickets in a day. At an average price of £50 per ticket, that equates to selling £50 million STERLING worth of tickets, in one day. One day. £50 million. I ask the question, what credit crunch?

So, take what you will from MJ's incredible success in London (he originally planned 10 shows, this has already been increased to 50), but the real question lies in the world of HR. What can HR take from this? Well, similarly to HR, MJ has received incredibly bad press over the last 10 years. People lost a lot of faith in the global superstar, as did many a organisation with their HR departments. MJ did little to help himself, again, HR has done little to help its failing reputation in the last decade. 

But he has made a comeback, and he's made it big time. He has shocked the world with his record sales, trumped the critics and has extended his shows, globally, tenfold. Isn't it time that HR defied all the odds and made a comeback. In troubled economic times it is HR who can trump the critics and rise to the top with killer ideas linked to bottom line results. It's time for HR to ditch the associated bad press and conquer the credit crunch with an in-depth understanding of engagement, productivity, effectiveness and efficiencies (relating to their workforce). MJ has captured the imagination and love of the public, so can HR capture the attention and imagination of the workforce to triumph. 

What do you think? Lets blog and start the debate. 

Till next time, 

Emma