Oracle

[Assuming Sapna agrees to my suggestion she blog about the first 1/2 of the Oracle interview, I am blogging about the 2nd half.] Kutik interviews Gretchen Alarcon, VP of Global HCM Strategy for Oracle. She talks about what Oracle is currently up to - which I will let Sapna handle. The interview then turns to her background and philosophies. Alarcon has a BA from Stanford and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Prior to pursuing her MBA, she was inspired by a professor who teaches at UofM. She came to understand that to be an effective human resources manager, she needed to become savvy in business, as well. I for one, agree completely! How can you manage a company's resources when you don't understand how the business works? This is what was meant by "HR not being the sharpest tacks in the box." Alarcon talks about her move from an HR practitioner to a strategist. She acknowledges her depth of domain experience has helped her but as a strategist, but broad skills are also necessary. She advocates research and the need to be analytical. She says one must be aware of how companies work in order to time what Oracle is investing (development) in and when the demand for those products will be. She says one of the first lessons she learned as a strategist is she cannot build software for herself, it must solve the client's needs. The interview ends with her discussion about mutual mentoring noted in my previous blog.