Up until that moment, I'd missed all the signs.

Earlier in the evening a few friends and I had met up for happy hour at a popular downtown DC restaurant.  Afterward, my friend Bill and I decided to grab a slice of pizza at the new Fuel Pizza that had opened up next door.  Just after we settled in, the assistant manager approached a nearby table where a young man had apparently fallen asleep.

I suddenly realized that everyone else in the restaurant had some connection to the sleeping man.  It was like a scene from a prairie dog den.  Before the assistant manager walked over everyone was hunkered down staring at their laptops screens, but when he came over they all popped their heads up and many moved as if they might intervene in the discussion.

That's when I saw the signs.  

The back of every laptop had a variety of protest stickers and every one that I could see had an Anonymous sign.  As my eyes darted from laptop to laptop I thought to look for the other telltale sign and found it hanging in the corner behind me: "Free Wi-Fi".

Yup.  This was occupied territory.  I had forgotten that just a few blocks away lay the main OccupyDC encampment.  These were all occupiers coming in for a little food, drink, and wi-fi.

I've always been fascinated by the phenomenon of one group using the tools of another to attack that same group.  Patton studied Rommel's tank strategies to in turn defeat him.  The 9/11 terrorists used cell phones and the Internet to coordinate flying jetliners into skyscrapers -- all invented in America -- to attack the US.  Now the occupiers use the laptops, free wi-fi, restaurant-space, and food of the very corporations they profess to oppose.  

I'm not the first one to point out these ironies.  But a recurring theme of my writing has been the role of HR in generating innovation, so I started wondering: what tools of Occupy could HR adopt to encourage innovation?

I don't profess to have a complete answer to that question.  Actually, I'd like to get your thoughts.  From what you know about the Occupy movement, what have you seen that HR execs could adapt for use inside of companies?

Share your thoughts and I'll put your ideas and questions along with my own to leadership-guru Jim Quigley, CEO-Emeritus of Deloitte and author of As One his great new book on how to motivate large groups of people to move and act as one.  Jim will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming HRO Today Forum in Washington, DC on May 1-2.  

Send me your ideas and questions...or better yet, join me at the Forum.  Register here.

About the Author: Richard Crespin is a successful entrepreneur, business and community organizer, and tireless advocate for global trade and corporate responsibility. He currently serves as the President of Member Services for SharedXpertise and the Executive Director of the Corporate Responsibility Officers Association.  Click here to read more about Richard or connect with Richard on LinkedIn and Twitter