The 14 best books for HR leaders (2021).
Like all areas of an organisation, Human Resources needs to flex with the dynamic influences that impact business. The external influences have not just been radical over the past year as we have navigated the effects of COVID, but once-in-a-lifetime radical. Many HR leaders have had to significantly shift their approach and adopt new ways of thinking.
As HR experts, how do you know what the right adjustment to make is? How do you stay up with future thinking and trends to know that when you change strategy, you are changing with the future in sight?
HR books are a great place to start. Some tomes on the topic are more personal experience, some more theoretical in nature. Some are written by entrepreneurs, others by thought-leading academics. They are not all rocket science but all have absolute ‘A-HA’ moments (yes, in caps) and interesting points to consider.
Whether you are a seasoned HR leader, just joining the ranks or an entrepreneur who knows that your people strategy could make or break you, here is our list of some of the best HR books for 2021. Enjoy!
Dare To Lead by Brené Brown
This is the ultimate playbook about taking the armour off and really showing up as who we are at work. Brené Brown presents a collection of four skills that encourage us to lead with authenticity, to connect with empathy and create a true sense of belonging within teams and organisations. A refreshing and honest discussion about the absolute bravery and vulnerability required to be a great leader.
Daring words:
“The skill sets that make up courage are not new; they’ve been aspirational leadership skills for as long as there have been leaders. We just haven’t had the courage for real talk about courage. But it’s time. And if you want to call these “soft skills” after you’ve tried putting them into practice—go for it. I dare you. Until then, find a home for your armour, and I’ll see you in the arena.” - Brené Brown
Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock
Work Rules! is the only book you need to learn from Google’s high-performance, high-freedom approach. Laszlo Bock, head of the legendary People Operation division for a decade, takes us inside one of history's most successful businesses to reveal why they are consistently rated one of the best places in the world to work.
Drawing on behavioural economics and a solid understanding on human psychology, this manifesto champions an emphasis on growth, culture, and humanity. Bock outlines in the book how Google revolutionised their approach to employees, leading to a line of people willing to wait years for a chance to work with them. Bock also fesses up to mistakes made along the way and the invaluable learnings from failure.
Just Google it:
“If you believe people are fundamentally good and worthy of trust, you must be honest and transparent with them. That includes telling them when they are lagging behind in their performance. But having a mission-driven, purposeful workplace also requires that you approach people with sensitivity.” - Laszlo Bock
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
Simon Sinek, the visionary thinker, Ted-talker (150M views on his post about Millenials!) and best-selling author, encourages us to imagine a world where people feel trusted, valued and inspired at work everyday.
He explores how business leaders can put employees first to inspire cooperation and radical change, encouraging them to do their best work every day. Sinek writes about creating a defined sense of belonging, the Circle of Safety as he calls it, so energy and effort is devoted to seizing big opportunities and ‘facing the foe’ rather than internal battles. An amazing read on how leaderships actions impact both people and profits.
Simon says:
“It is not the genius at the top giving directions that makes people great. It is great people that make the guy at the top look like a genius.” - Simon Sinek
The Fearless Organisation by Amy C Edmondson
Attracting and retaining the best employees is crucial for companies to succeed, but not if they turn up and aren’t empowered to speak their mind. Creativity, innovation and growth come from ideation and thought-provoking conversations. Conversations that just don’t happen when the culture is more about fitting in, staying quiet and avoiding criticism.
Psychological safety is essential for modern workplaces to thrive. Edmondson details how to empower employees to speak honestly, take educated and creative risks, adapt and learn, and give their best - benefitting the organisation on an institutional level through boosted productivity.
Fearless words:
“For jobs where learning or collaboration is required for success, fear is not an effective motivator.” - Amy C Edmondson
HR Disrupted by Lucy Adams
This book is centred around understanding how companies can survive the ever-changing world in which we all operate, and the even greater changes that will come in the future. How do you take a futurist approach to leading, managing, engaging and motivating to not just survive, but thrive?
Adams says disruption comes from focussing on three pillars: treating employees as adults not children, treating employees as consumers or customers (not a one-size-fits-all approach) and treating employees as human beings.
Many companies have already disrupted their HR processes. For those that haven’t and those that want to, there are a few big lightbulb moments in this book that make you think hard.
From the disrupter:
“Tomorrow’s leaders will need to become more resilient, engaged, curious, insightful and humble” - Lucy Adams
Belonging At Work by Rhodes Perry MPA
Belonging is a basic human need and this need does not change in the workplace. Those who feel a true sense of safety, connection and acceptance with their team, achieve at higher levels and report being job-happier.
Belonging at Work empowers business leaders, change agents, visionaries, and those who aspire to be them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to build truly inclusive organisations - and we all want a bit of that.
Through personal anecdotes, case studies and real-life strategies, learn how to cultivate a workplace culture where everyone can show up authentically and feel valued and respected. Written for all people leaders at all levels, Belonging At Work focuses on positively impacting workplace culture for better outcomes for all.
Words at work:
“Cultivating a workplace culture of belonging is a journey, not a destination. It takes patience, perseverance, tenacity and grit. The journey starts with yourself by committing to continuous education.” - Rhodes Perry
Bring Your Human To Work by Erica Keswin
The best leaders are those that actively foster authentic, connected relationships. They listen openly, respond with intention and genuinely care about their employees.
Bring Your Human to Work is a guide to improving workplace culture with intention, care and authenticity. Keswin shares how focusing on truly caring about the impacts we have one another is fundamental to developing a high performing culture - and a company where top-performers want to work. Set your team or company up for success by building purpose and meaning into everyday actions, earning respect and sincere effort from employees along the way.
Human notes:
“The way I see it is it doesn’t matter how strong somebody’s technical skills are if they can’t manage relationships. If they can’t manage stress, if they’re operating from a place of fear . . . it doesn’t matter what their technical skills are because they won’t be able to access them.” - Erica Keswin
Primed To Perform by Neel Doshi + Lindsay McGregor
The authors of this guide, Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor, are experts in building high-performance cultures. In the book, they look at how businesses can tap into human psychology to achieve sustained innovation and ideation.
They share how to practically apply the Total Motivation (ToMo) Factor, a predictive measurement tool that enables businesses to measure the strength of their culture and track improvements over time. The end results are something we all want - more sales and revenue, happier and more loyal customers and employees who passionately deliver both.
ToMo tips:
“Culture is what tells your people why they should work.” - Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor
Radical Candor by Kim Scott
In Radical Candor, Kim Scott (Silicon Valley CEO coach and faculty member at Apple University) details how to be a kick-ass boss without losing the human touch. The book focuses on open communication as the foundation for healthy and productive teams and companies.
Scott’s approach of Caring Personally while Challenging Directly, is based on the premise that when you challenge without caring it's obnoxious aggression; when you care without challenging it's ruinous empathy. When you do neither it's manipulative insincerity. Radical Candor offers a simple framework with powerfully human outcomes.
That’s radical:
“Make sure that you are seeing each person on your team with fresh eyes every day. People evolve, and so your relationships must evolve with them. Care personally; don’t put people in boxes and leave them there.” - Kim Scott
Redefining HR by Lars Schmidt
As the founder of Amplify, Schmidt has spent his career driving innovation in the HR space for globally recognised brands. Redefining HR is a playbook for all HR teams. Thought-provoking and immediately applicable, it provides a modern framework and forward-thinking ideas for practitioners.
The book shares progressive perspectives on the fundamental practices of HR, from employee experience to diversity and inclusion, people analytics to learning and development. With insights and case studies from the HR gurus at companies like MasterCard, Stripe, Asana and VanyerMedia, this is a great read for the whole HR team.
Defining idea:
“Next-generation HR leaders (and teams) are much more secure in their impact on the business. They are focused on success enablement and designing programs that allow leaders to lead and employees to thrive.” - Lars Schmidt
Nine Lies About Work by Marcus Buckingham + Ashley Goodall
These Gallup alum debunk the biggest myths about work using a science-based approach. With backgrounds in data and psychology, they pull apart myths like ‘the best plan wins’, ‘people have potential’, ‘the best people are well-rounded’, ‘work-life balance matters most’, and ‘leadership is a thing’ to tell it how the science does.
They approach these myths with Millennials in mind, giving valuable insights into today’s workforce and what they are actually looking for.
Freethinking wisdom:
“There’s one thing you can start to do immediately: get into the conscious habit of looking for what’s going well for each of your team members.” - Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall
Talent Makers by Daniel Chait + Jon Stross
This one if for all the for leaders who want to learn how to improve hiring diversity to build a powerfully successful team.
Written by a couple of guys who know a thing or two about recruitment (Chait and Stross are co-founders of the talent platform Greenhouse), Talent Makers is a step-by-step guide to making your recruitment strategy a competitive advantage. Sharing proven methodologies to transform and evaluate the process - from attracting top talent, being inclusive in your hiring choices to onboarding for success - this book gives you the framework to measurably improve how and who you hire.
From the talent:
“Your HR department needs you to step up and not just say but show that hiring is a priority. You need to create the space for people on your team to work on the business, as well as in the business.” - Daniel Chait and Jon Stross
Talent Keepers by Christopher Mulligan + Craig Taylor
Talent Keepers puts forward a new perspective on how to engage and retain your best performers. The book details precise tactics to positively impact engagement and retention in today’s evolved work environment. Using research-based, proven approaches alongside real-life case studies, Mulligan and Taylor give you an implementable engagement blueprint.
If you are a leader looking to improve the metrics around your best performers, this guide is a great addition to the HR library.
Words on retention:
“What makes any business successful are the right leaders, producers, innovators, and their value cannot be overstated. As studies show, constant talent rotation is not healthy and can be very costly for any business.” - Craig Taylor (retired, Christopher Mulligan can be found here)
High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil
Global technology executive, angel investor and serial entrepreneur Elad Gil - who has worked with companies like Square, Google, Stripe, Twitter and AirBnB - details his high growth formula in this insightful playbook. Written for any company that is looking to become a global brand, Gil shares the common denominators in success in his experience including executive roles, funding and offerings and how to hire the best people to drive the company forward. His experience is interspersed with conversations with top Silicon Valley leaders who share their powerful insights about leading start-ups to become big brands.
Tweetable moment:
“You do not want to preserve culture; you want to collectively steer the right evolution of the culture.” —Patrick Collison” - Elad Gil