John G. Holly: Member Spotlight (November 2017)
November 1, 2017Argentina Murphy: Member Spotlight (January 2018)
January 1, 2018“I firmly believe that one’s success is contingent upon how you help others succeed.”
-Anthony P. Howard, Human Resources Business Partner, Vonage
Members and friends, as you may have heard by now, the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association of African-Americans in Human Resources announced the Spring 2018 session of its PHR/SPHR Certification Class. Some of you are interested in registering for this class so we thought it would be a good idea to shine this month’s Member Spotlight on none other than one of NAAAHR’s newest members and instructor of the upcoming certification class, Anthony Howard.
Key to understanding a bit of who Anthony is and his passion for instructing this class is understanding a little about where he comes from…
I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago; that area of Chicago that you see on CNN. I am a product of Chicago public schools. I am the oldest of 3 brothers and 2 sisters. I am an uncle to 13 nieces and nephews…and yes, I love the library program.
As a fairly new uncle, I’m a card-carrying member of the library program myself. Come on, you know the library program?! That’s where you can check out as many nieces and nephews as you like, whenever you want them! …and when you get tired of them you can always return them back to the home branch.
As we talk a bit about where Anthony’s passion for teaching began, he recalls feeling like the teachers in school spent the majority of their time trying to catch students up to where they should be instead of them already having a firm foundation on which to build…
I remember having to always go above and beyond in order to prepare for school. In my case, I knew I was going above and beyond to prepare for college. That constant struggle motivated me to want to become an elementary school teacher. I quickly realized that I lacked the patience one need’s to be an effective elementary school teacher, but fortunately, I realized that there were other ways for me to help others prepare for the next level in their development. I began working on the Benefits side of Human Resources before having the opportunity to expand into more general HR. I moved into a leadership role as an HR Business Partner when the Human Resources Information Systems company that I was working with Employees.com, was acquired by ADP.
I’ve always found great joy in teaching, mentoring, and developing. I firmly believe that one’s success is contingent upon how you help others succeed. I had a very strong interest in helping others growing up in communities that are disadvantaged, and giving them the edge or advantage that I didn’t have and participated and volunteered in mentorship programs like Jobs for Youth), Year Up, and principal for a day job readiness for the City of Atlanta. I’ve taught, mentored, and helped to develop youth. Now I have the opportunity do the same with adults. Now I am a teacher, a mentor, and a coach in an HR Business Partner capacity helping people see the potential within themselves and helping managers to create an environment where employees can thrive.
One of the greatest challenges that I had on this journey was beginning on one career track for so long as a Benefits professional, then trying to switch tracks working as an HR Generalist. I was able to overcome that challenge through learning to leverage my network so that when an opportunity became available I could get a shot. The second challenge was applying my skill set within the HR Business Partner paradigm which meant answering the question, ‘How do I add value for the managers of the business who are making decisions that impact people?’ That requires a level of business acumen, knowledge of the profession, having management skills, and relationship-building skills regardless of the level of maturity of the organization. If you don’t have those skills, or the mentorship to point you in the right direction, it will be a challenge.
Overall, my life is a testament that you can go through something, but not become it. I think about my own personal experiences and I wish I had some of the opportunities and resources available to me back then to make my journey easier, but I’m thankful to be where I am now and I’m really excited to be able to make a difference in others as I continue to also learn more about myself.
Did you meet Anthony at our last Chapter Meeting of the year back in November? Do you already know Anthony and just want to catch up with him to say hi? Does he owe you money? Well, he’ll be instructing our upcoming PHR/SPHR class starting in February 2018, so check him out there! If you can’t wait until then or just want the opportunity to not only meet Anthony but to also meet professionals in Human Resources and other industries at the 2nd Annual Holiday Soiree on Sunday, December 10, 2017! Click here for more information and to register for this event. Advance registrants get a discounted rate from registrants at the door so don’t delay…