Welcome back to the office—you’re a whole new you! Or, at least, you’ve resolved to be. If your resolution is to be more effective and efficient at work, you’re in luck: We’ve got a cheat sheet.
We asked HR Brew readers to share the books that have made them smarter, wiser, and more empathetic people leaders. Crack open a few and you’ll be well on your way to nailing those resolutions.
If you just got promoted into leadership. One of the books most often recommended was Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown. While organizational change is typically driven by top leaders, Michele Freeman, director of people operations at Austin-based nonprofit funding group Notley, said all HR pros can benefit from Brown’s prescribed “courage and vulnerability.” And when everyone is on the same page, it “allows for the opportunity to create more equitable and people-centric workplaces.” Her main takeaway: Organizations become successful when they see values as their “north star” when making decisions.
Melanie Naranjo, VP of people at compliance company Ethena, is such a big fan of The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business by Patrick Lencioni that her team made it required reading for new hires. She also recommends the book, which outlines how to identify and achieve organizational health, to “anyone in the people ops space who is running into issues building employee trust or partnering effectively with their leadership team.”
If you’re seeking a role model. Over the past two years, HR professionals have seen that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to culture. That’s one of the reasons why Geraldine Woloch-Addamine, founder and CEO of HR startup Good4work, told us that she loved SHRM president Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.’s book Reset: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval. She said the book, which incorporates lessons from companies such as Tyson Foods, Facebook, and Google, teaches HR how to grapple with cultural challenges, including navigating polarization and misalignment.
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Tristin May, HR manager at Milestone Church in Keller, Texas, echoed a similar sentiment when she recommended Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility by Patty McCord. The former chief talent officer at Netflix, McCord draws on her experience at the company to share tangible strategies for how she created the streaming company’s unique culture.
If inclusivity is the reason you get out of bed in the morning. Still struggling with how to launch a DE&I strategy? You’re not alone. Laura Morgan, VP of people at Revelstoke Capital Partners in Denver, Colorado, recommends picking up Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work by Ruchika Tulshyan. The book, she said, can help HR professionals critically consider concepts like “culture fit,” learn to recognize privilege, and develop empathy.
Neely Cegelka, an HR leader focused on DEIB at EnPro Industries in Waipahu, Hawaii, suggested Don’t Label Me: An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times by Irshad Manji, which encourages leaders not to make assumptions about workers based on aspects of their identities. The book “stresses the importance of coming from a place of inquiry to learn more about a person and not making assumptions that lead to judgment,” Cegelka said.
If you’d rather read fiction. Rachel Weintraub, an HR M&A consultant at IBM, picked the comic novel Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour. The satire, which centers around a Black salesman at a near cult-like startup, explores racism in corporate America, as the protagonist ascends a nontraditional ladder from barista to company man and navigates DE&I challenges at every turn.
Want more? Check out the full list of recommendations on HR Brew’s LinkedIn page, and email us with your own suggestions.—SV
Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Susanna for her number on Signal.