A few years ago, SHRM magazine commented that HR professionals had a negative image in the media. Unfortunately, the negative image was not sexy negative, like lawyers, but boring sexy. In honor of this distinction, I have decided to name my top 5 HR people in the media. Number 5 was Frank & Lillian Gilbreth. 4 was Catbert, 3 was Toby Flenderson (The Office).
And at #2 – Drew Carey from the Drew Carey Show. For most of the television show of the same name, Drew Carey worked in the human resources department of Winfred-Louder (the real Winfred-Louder shares a name with a famous actress). Personally, I would have put Drew Carey first on my list, but then I would have been doing that out of my general support for anything linked to Cleveland (making me a real homer). Drew was somewhat unique among our other human resource people as portrayed on television in that he was popular, cool, and hip – of course, he was hip because he was basically a loser. For example, although generally single, he married multiple times on the show, including once to Mr. Wick, his boss. Marrying your boss is a behavior that Toby Flenderson would caution against. One could make a strong argument for Drew Carey as #1, as it is hard to think of another show that had as its lead a human resource manager.
