people are our strength

people are our most valuable resource. it's the policy of any company in western society. so why don't companies show off their people? why do they make their people hide?

companies look for and recruit people in this new social world by creeping a potential candidate's social profile, typically facebook. a photo, whether posted by the individual or tagged by a friend, can end the candidates chances of employment at that company. some employees have even been reprimanded or even "let go" because of a seemingly inappropriate photo.

drinking at a party / bar, barfing in a toilet when drinking too much, taking a hit off a doob... these are all things companies would rather not have in their "cabinets" holding their personnel files.

recently we all learned that even the "great" steve jobs liked the weed and the lsd and the shrooms. he was a complete dick but he brought the world some amazing things. without his complete dedication and foresight the world wouldn't have the innovations in technology we have today. the world wouldn't have the bar set so high.

kary mullis claims that if he weren't taking lsd during his molecular biology research he would not have come up with the innovations that eventually won him the nobel prize.

i'm not saying all people who have taken lsd will win a nobel prize or come up with something so elegant as an ipad, but i am saying people are people. they do good work. they can be very smart and motivated people. dedicated hard working individuals with their priorities straight helping companies like microsoft be people_ready.

it's time for companies to get it straight. good hard working people in all positions sometimes like to go out and get completely wasted. sometimes they barf in garbage cans at 3am. they can be exemplary employees worthy of higher than average wage increases and full bonuses but still come to work monday morning ready to do an outstanding job.

brag about it. celebrate it. companies should have real people working for them not the people you see in the microsoft ad above.