The HR Reading Bucket: Top 20 HR Books For You to Read in 2020

HR books serve a two-fold purpose – they help you see the world of work as it is at present and they provide a window to the future of work. Here’s our curated list of the top 20 HR books that you should be reading in 2020 to stay updated and motivated.

Are you wondering which HR books to read in 2020 to help you up your talent game? Here’s a curated list to help you boost your HR knowledge and find out all about the most relevant trends and techniques.

These books are divided into three primary categories:

Intelligent Leadership

A list of books that today’s leaders should be reading to be well-versed in the workplace of tomorrow:

People Processes Our take on reading essentials that will enable you to elevate your people processes for increased employee happiness and greater business success:

1. Difficult Conversations: How To Discuss What Matters MostOpens a new window – To enable more efficient dialogue and manage challenging conversations.

2. Lead With ImaginationOpens a new window – To understand how to build leadership teams and processes that enable imagination and change.

3. Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real WorldOpens a new window – To shatter the most common misconceptions about work and to navigate often reinforced but incorrect ideas.

4. The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable SuccessOpens a new window – For a glimpse into how conscious leadership can aid the evolution of individual employees and teams.

People Processes

Our take on reading essentials that will enable you to elevate your people processes for increased employee happiness and greater business success:

5. Feedback (and Other Dirty Words): Why We Fear It, How to Fix ItOpens a new window – To find out all about creating effective feedback loops that enable your employees.

6. HR From the Outside In Six Competencies for the Future of Human ResourcesOpens a new window – To gain a keen understanding of the process of building competent and involved HR teams.

7. Bring Your Human to Work: 10 Surefire Ways to Design a Workplace That Is Good for People, Great for Business, and Just Might Change the WorldOpens a new window – Guidelines for building a human workplace that helps you engage your employees better.

8. The Power of People: Learn How Successful Organizations Use Workforce Analytics To Improve Business PerformanceOpens a new window – A peek into effective talent analytics and metrics that can be applied to business processes to tangibly improve outcomes.

9. Thrive The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Happier Life Opens a new window  – The code for a workplace that thrives and sets its employees up for success.

10. Why We WorkOpens a new window – A closer look at happiness at work and how it is relevant today.

11. High Potential: How to Spot, Manage, and Develop Talented People at WorkOpens a new window – Understand the nuances of building HiPos or high potential talent to create business success.

12. Staying Power: Why Your Employees Leave and How to Keep Them LongerOpens a new window – Insights into long-term employee engagement techniques.

13. Belonging at Work: Everyday Actions You Can Take to Cultivate an Inclusive OrganizationOpens a new window – Understand the how and why of building a culture at work employees can organically connect with and feel that they belong to.

14. Sense and Respond: How Successful Organizations Listen to Customers and Create New Products ContinuouslyOpens a new window – Understand the importance of creating a digital brand that listens to internal and external customers.

15. Superminds: The Surprising Power of People and Computers Thinking TogetherOpens a new window – Look deeper into the future of human-AI collaboration.

16. Artificial Intelligence for HR: Use AI to Support and Develop a Successful WorkforceOpens a new window – Find out how to apply AI tools to create HR systems that are more effective.

17. Talent Wins: The New Playbook for Putting People FirstOpens a new window – Gain a fresh perspective on talent management and apply new techniques.

Emerging HR Trends

Recent writings on the upcoming trends that HR needs to prepare, adapt to and optimize:

18. The Talent DelusionOpens a new window – Get a deeper look into building measurable systems and processes for enabling the employees of tomorrow.

19. Work Rules!Opens a new window – Get a behind-the-scenes peek into transformative HR processes at Google that you could learn from and apply.

20. The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the WorldOpens a new window – Get a fresh take on the need to create a level playing field that is empowering for women and for the organization as a whole.

What Will You Gain If You Read the Books on This List?

Browsing through this reading bucket will help you:

• Gain insight into the present state of the world of work through the eyes of very diverse authors
• Get a deeper understanding of the immediate and long-term change-trends facing us
• Understand how we need to change in order to not only react to the many changes coming our way but also how to lead these shifts in work
• Take a peek into the AI-human collaboration endeavors that will define the next few years
• Create a plan of action backed by insider knowledge and industry intelligence

The Amazing Sources for This List:

Which HR books are you adding to your 2020 reading bucket? Tell us all about it on FacebookOpens a new window , LinkedInOpens a new window , or TwitterOpens a new window . We’re always listening.