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Articles/Books

    The Secret Sauce for Leading Transformational Change 
    by Ian Ziskin
    The idea for The Secret Sauce for Leading Transformational Change began during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2022 with the transformational changes taking place in people’s personal and work lives, and society at large. Over 935,000 people died in the United States, with nearly 6,000,000 lives lost globally at the time of this writing. This unprecedented period was characterized by massive disruptions including economic instability, racial and social injustice, declines in mental and physical well-being, remote school and work challenges, and political divisions. Living with all this change and uncertainty prompted questions about what it takes to lead, survive, and even thrive in periods of transformational change.

    Will Women Change the Future of Management?

    The demographics of work and business are shifting rapidly - and the male dominated model is overdue an overhaul.

    Click here to read the full post.

    Cooperation More Than Competition
    by Dave Ulrich

    Attached is short post (150 words) on the importance of collaboration (teamwork).  Drawing on NCAA tournament and tv “survivor” shows that the sole winner logic does not really apply to many organization settings.

    Click here to read the full post.

    How HR Can Become a “Humanitarian Response” Partner
    by Dave Ulrich
    Click here to read the full article.

    A “meta-trend” the upswing in the broad category of mental health.
    by Dave Ulrich
    Click here to read the full post.

    Five HR Competencies and Actions to Enable Renewal through Human Capability
    by Dave Ulrich

    The COVID epidemic flared into a pandemic and now may be moving into an enduring endemic with lots of metaphors about how to face the future: reboot, reimagine, reinvent, remake, reset, revitalize, and so forth. Let me capture this future with renewal, with the prefix “re” meaning again and again building on the past and “new” meaning in innovative ways.

    Click here to read the full post.


    On the Horizon
    Quotes from Ashley Goldsmith and other Executives from Workday

    As the pandemic continues to change the way we work, here are some HR and L&D trends to keep an eye on in 2022.

    Click here to read the full article

    Worried about your dog when you stop working from home? Experts give seven tips to help pet owners go back to the office
    • Over 3m households welcomed a dog or cat since the pandemic struck last year
    • Last year, British households spent a whopping £7.9m on their pets
    • Returning to work may affect your pet but you can help them to cope with it
    Click here to read the full article.

    Bosses, Now is the Time to Show Your Employees Your Company's Value
    by Ashley Goldsmith

    In a crisis, employees expect leaders to do more than recite their core beliefs; they have to act on them, says Workday’s chief people officer.

    Click here to read the full article.


    Five Tips to Try Now As you Plan the Future of Your Workforce.
    by Ashley Goldsmith

    Who stays remote? Who comes in daily? Workday’s chief people officer shares some tools for mapping the return to work.

    Click here to read the full article.

    Four Ways Job Interviews Have Changed Since the Start of the Pandemic

    Members of Fast Company’s Impact Council shared how they’re adjusting the interview process, and what new questions they’re asking candidates.

    Click here to read the full article.


    3 CHROs share their greatest lessons of 2021

    At the beginning of 2021, many HR leaders likely were looking forward to the pandemic winding down and the new world of work starting to get underway. 

    Click here to read the full article.


    Keeping Your Finger On The Pulse Of Your Company Is A Bigger Priority Now

    Ashley Goldsmith, chief people officer at Workday, shared her key leadership lessons with Adam Bryant and David Reimer, CEO of The ExCo Group, in our latest Strategic CHRO interview.

    Click here to read the full article.


    Healing at Work: A Guide to Using Career Conflicts to Overcome Your Past and Build the Future You Deserve.

    by Susan Schmitt-Winchester

    In her book, Healing at Work: A Guide to Using Career Conflicts to Overcome Your Past and Build the Future You DeserveSusan Schmitt Winchester tells you how to become the confident person you were born to be. She draws from her own personal experiences and the latest research in positive psychology and neuroplasticity to inform and equip readers and audiences with the skills and insights they need to achieve the joyful existence they were meant for all along.

    Of the 100s of books I’ve read, Healing at Work is in the top 5 because it’s so valuable, so important, so critical, so core.

     — Jack Canfield, co-author, Chicken Soup For the Soul books


    Building Profit Through Building People: Making Your Workforce the Strongest Link in the Value-Profit Chain by Ken Carrig and Patrick Wright

    This instructive field book will guide human resource professionals and company management in their use of the profit value chain to build profitability through good management. Instruction for human resource professionals on becoming successful strategic partners in their companies and includes information for company management on how strategic human resource can contribute to an organization's financial success. It focuses on practical, "how-to" steps in implementing value profit chain principles using the experiences of SYSCO, Sears, Continental Airlines, and other large, well-known organizations.
     


    Shaping the Future of Work: A Handbook for Action and a New Social Contract
    by Thomas A. Kochan and Lee Dyer 

    A roadmap for how workers, business, labor, education, and government can build high-quality jobs and strong and successful businesses through collaborative efforts.

    This book provides a roadmap for what workers, business, labor, education, and government need to do to build a new social contract for all to prosper. It is a call to action for building high-quality jobs and strong and successful businesses through collaborative efforts capable of overcoming the deep divisions all too apparent in society today.


    Managers Can't Do it All

    by Diane Gherson and Lynda Gratton
    In recent decades sweeping reengineering, digitization, and agile initiatives—and lately the move to remote work—have dramatically transformed the job of managers. Change has come along three dimensions: power, skills, and structure.

    Click here to read the full article.


    This is a short post on why and how leaders need to empower by letting others do the work and learn.

    Posted by Dave Ulrich

    Click here to read the full post.


    Hidden Workers: Untapped Talent
    How leaders can improve hiring practices to uncover missed talent pools, close skills gaps, and improve diversity.
    Co-Authored by Eva Sage-Gavin
    Click here to read the full article.

    Glass Half-Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work
    by Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg

    Why the gender gap persists and how we can close it. For years women have made up the majority of college-educated workers in the United States. In 2019, the gap between the percentage of women and the percentage of men in the workforce was the smallest on record. But despite these statistics, women remain underrepresented in positions of power and status, with the highest-paying jobs the most gender-imbalanced. Even in fields where the numbers of men and women are roughly equal, or where women actually make up the majority, leadership ranks remain male-dominated. The persistence of these inequalities begs the question: Why haven't we made more progress? In "Glass Half-Broken," Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg reveal the pervasive organizational obstacles and managerial actions--limited opportunities for development, lack of role models and sponsors, and bias in hiring, compensation, and promotion--that create gender imbalances. Bringing to light the key findings from the latest research in psychology, sociology, organizational behavior, and economics, Ammerman and Groysberg show that throughout their careers--from entry-level to mid-level to senior-level positions--women get pushed out of the leadership pipeline, each time for different reasons. Presenting organizational and managerial strategies designed to weaken and ultimately break down these barriers, "Glass Half-Broken" is the authoritative resource that managers and leaders at all levels can use to finally shatter the glass ceiling.


    How a Harvard B-Professor changed his course in the Covid-19 era.

    Women in business—specifically women who are “stars”—is an unusual and provocative research specialization, and one that might seem like a topic of interest relegated to academics of the female persuasion. Meet Boris Groysberg, the Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, a dynamic educator with an off-the-beaten-path specialty: women. In particular, “women stars” in the world of business. 

    By Mary Lowengard as published in Fortune Magazine

    Click here to read the full article.


    NAHR SIOP D&I Report
    DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION: Perspectives from Chief Human Resources Officers and Academic Researchers

    The National Academy of Human Resources (NAHR) and the Society of Industrial and Organization Psychology (SIOP) have been partnering on an initiative designed to advance our research knowledge and practice in the area of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). We had started on this project late in 2019, and since then it has become even more critical.  We had outlined a workshop designed to convene a small group of CHROs/Chief Diversity Officers who have a track record of prioritizing investments in D&I and demonstrating measurable results and a small group of Academics who have done evidence based research and could discuss best practices that are compelling based on their research and theoretical perspectives that are actionable. That session was scheduled for June 2020 but it was cancelled due to the pandemic.  Instead, we conducted interviews via Zoom with a number of Academics, CHROs and Chief Diversity Officers.  

    Click here to read the full article


    Workforce Management in a Time of Crisis
    by Wayne F. Cascio, PH.D.

    The biggest challenge we are facing right now is: Uncertainty. Employees want answers to "me" questions and Employers need an overall strategy.. 

    Click here to view the Presentation.


    Why Instilling Business Ethics is Key for an Engaged Workforce
    by Jill B. Smart

    Here's how HR executives and organizations can address their policies and processes to instill and champion a culture of ethical behavior. 

    Please click the following link to read the full articale.

    https://hrexecutive.com/why-instilling-business-ethics-is-key-for-an-engaged-workforce/



    Fit to Compete: Why Honest Conversations about Your Company's Capabilities are the Key to a Winning Strategy.

    by Michel Beer

    Based on 30 years of practice and research, Fit to Compete: Why Honest Conversations about Your Company’s Capabilities are the Key to a Winning Strategy (Harvard Business Press January 14, 2020) addresses this reality in detail. 


    Organizations get stuck—unable to change rapidly—because their top managers do not lead honest conversations involving key people across the enterprise. My book shows why honest conversations are the key to accelerating change in effectiveness, performance, trust and commitment. It goes on to illustrate how senior managers can lead such an honest conversation and execute the changes they know are needed. Honesty can also re-establish an enterprise’s moral center and overcome historic low levels of trust in our institutions and their leaders.

    Click here to read more about the book at my website. 


    Articles of Interest to CHROs
    compiled by Peter Cappelli

    click here to see articles and related links

    The Amazon Management System: The Ultimate Digital Business Engine That Creates Extraordinary Value for Both Customers and Shareholders
    by Ram Charan and Julia Yang

    What has propelled their record streak of growth? Their management system, and it can do the same for you no matter what business you are in or what level.

    Learning it is as simple as six building blocks distilled by New York Times bestselling author and global CEO advisor Ram Charan and Julia Yang in The Amazon Management System.

    Click here to read more 


    How High-Performance Organizations Measure D&I Program Efforts
    From i4cp's  Chief Diversity  Officer Board

    Click here to read more


    Diversity & Inclusion Practices that Promote Market Performance
    From Institute for Corporate Productivity

    Companies that succeed at diversity and inclusion (D&I) do so because their leaders truly get it—there is authentic recognition of the value of D&I, which is defined as a shared set of values and practices that are integral to an organization’s identity and consistently reinforced through the culture. 

    Click here to read more


    Inclusive Leadership Behaviors Checklist
    From Institute for Corporate Productivity

    The following list of inclusive behaviors from i4cp’s Diversity & Inclusion Values and Behaviors Survey are ranked in order of importance for building a diverse and inclusive organization. If these behaviors are important to your organization’s culture but are not exemplified by your leaders,    it may indicate the need for intervention in either the leadership development process or the way that leadership performance is evaluated.

    Click here to read more


    2019 Outlook: What Will Be Different?
    News for Chief Human Resource Officers from HR Policy Association

    As we embark on another year of a highly unpredictable and vitriolic era in American politics, the question of how this season will differ from those that went before it will turn largely upon how the House Democrats handle their new position of power.  Traditional political leadership is being challenged on a global scale with economic uncertainty at a heightened level.  2019 will prove a testing ground for whether either of our two major political parties can find a voice that is both relevant and resonant.  Health care is already being teed up as a bellwether issue, with Democrats split over whether to move toward some form of a single payer system or fine-tune the Affordable Care Act.  On the workplace regulation front, the first order of business for the House will be a minimum wage increase, but that and many other measures likely to follow will face a high—if not insurmountable—hurdle in the Senate.

    Click here to read more


    Technology-Driven Changes in Work and Employment
    by Wayne Cascio

    We live in a global society where technology, especially information and communication technology, is changing the way businesses create and capture value, how and where we work, and how we interact and communicate. 

    Click here to read more


    A 'C' Change in the C-Suite
    by Eva Sage-Gavin

    Last week I received an email electronically signed by a business colleague. Her name was familiar, but her title was not: chief collaboration officer, a designation unique to her organization. I’ve also seen other new, disruptive titles: chief experience officer, chief culture officer, chief ethics officer and chief analytics officer. Some of these titles replace the traditional CHRO title, while others are new additions to the C-suite that require close partnership with HR chiefs. Still others are entirely new executive titles and may exist within HR or as part of other functions in the C-suite.

    Click here to read the full article


    What Makes Great Leaders Great?
    by Dave Ulrich

    The workplace is one environment where effective leadership is incredibly important. In this path you will learn that it can mean the difference between success or failure for the company. What makes a great leader? There isn't one simple answer to that question, as there's so much that goes into effective leadership.

    Click here to read the full article.


    Being Comfortable Feeling Uncomfortable: Advice to New CHROs and Others!
    by Dave Ulrich

    Feeling comfortable by knowing what to expect and how to respond is certainly nice. But in a world of dramatic uncertainty and constant change, maybe we need a bit more comfort with discomfort— a recognition that my new surroundings may mean that I feel in over my head, that I am not sure I can do what is expected of me, and that I don’t always know what to do or how to do it.

    Click here to read the full article


    Going off the Grid by Donna Morris

    Remember that last day of school before the summer break? There was a collective sense of excitement as students and teachers counted the seconds to the final bell of the school year that signified the start of summer.

    Once we leave school, we lose that sense of collective excitement as summer nears. Fast forward to 2009, Adobe was going through several key business changes and, as part of that, re-evaluated its employee rewards programs, including the vacation benefit. Adobe made the decision to replace accrued vacation time for exempt employees in the U.S. and Canada with two shutdown periods — one in summer and one in winter, complemented with additional PTO to be used throughout the year — which, initially, was viewed by employees as modestly beneficial (that is, being positive).

    click here to read the full article

    The Rise of HR: Wisdom from 73 Thought Leaders.

    Click here for free PDF and EPUB electronic copies of this publication.


    Speak the Language by Jill B. Smart.

    You might be asking, “Well, what language is that?” Business language, of course! Every human resources professional needs to be first and foremost a business professional. Yes, even before being a human resources professional. You might have two reactions to that statement:

    Click here to read the full article.


    Every HR Leader Needs a VR Mindset by Eva Sage-Gavin

    To lead in the new “imagination economy,” HR leaders have new ways to perceive—and steer—our organizations for agility and reinvention.

    As HR leaders, we have unprecedented new opportunities to reimagine and transform our competitive and workplace realities. There are new ways of viewing our ecosystems to gain breakthrough insights and ideas from “peripheral vision” that extends outside the boundaries of our organizations. We are able to create a virtual version and expanded scenarios of future possibilities to allow us to easily test and experiment with new ideas before we pilot them in physical reality. We can move from conventional HR roles to predictive-workforce experts, deeply steeped in organization agility and innovation.

    Click here to read the full article


    Google’s former head of HR wants to help people act more human at work

    Laszlo Bock left Google in 2016 after running its HR shop for a decade, during which he racked up “best place to work” awards, built a data-driven operation known as “people analytics" and wrote a bestseller. Last week, he revealed new details for the first time about Humu, a start-up he co-founded with two other former Google executives that has raised $40 million in funding.

    Click here to read the full article


    Employee Engagement 3.0: Humu Launches Nudge Engine

    On the heels of LinkedIn’s acquisition of Glint, which lights a bonfire under the engagement market, I want to talk about something entirely different: Humu. Humu is the first behavioral change company focused on building an AI-based “nudge engine.”

    Click here to read the full article