In Memoriam: Jan Karow
I am taking a break from answering my Top 10 Questions to honor the memory of a man who helped shape the direction of our company. When we released the first edition of our materials 14 years ago, we were focused on providing an exam preparation tool for individuals preparing for the PHR and SPHR exams. In fact, our materials even had a different title back then: Human Resource Certification Self-Study Program. Then one morning I got a call from Jan Karow. He worked with the Employers Association in Charlotte, North Carolina, he explained, where he taught preparation courses for the HR certification exams. He hadn’t been happy with any of the study resources available, so he had started writing his own. “Then I saw an advertisement for your materials,” he said, “so I ordered a copy. After your books arrived and I looked through them, I quit writing.”
And then he placed an order. Our first group order.
Our perspective of what HRCP could be shifted dramatically. And we couldn’t have had a better pioneering instructor than Jan Karow. His classes achieved astounding pass rates. (I think maybe he scared his students into passing the exams.) He was a walking encyclopedia of HR knowledge, and he made valuable suggestions on how we could improve our materials. Now, a little more than a decade later, about half of our sales are to ongoing study groups across the country and around the world. But Jan’s group will always have a special place in our hearts, because his was first.
Jan Karow passed away on July 9, 2009, at the much-too-young age of 59.