Best HR Books – Human Resources Are Not an Afterthought

Successful human resources teams are vital in keeping your business running efficiently and effectively. So, how do you make sure that your business is adopting the latest and best practices when it comes to running your HR team?
There are a number of things that you can do, and we’ve listed down the most effective ones below.

Promoting A Happy Workplace

Ensuring that your employees feel safe and happy in their work and role is key in making sure that they stay with your company longer. They will also work more effectively if they feel happy in their position.
The more experienced your employees are, the more valuable they will be to the business. You can find out how your employees are feeling by offering the chance to fill in regular surveys. The surveys themselves will also show your employees that you care.

Information Sharing

If the company is doing well or has just landed an important contract, make sure that someone is taking the time to share the news.
Communicating information involving business performance as a whole will help to keep your employees as enthusiastic about the business as you are.

Performance Feedback

Ensure that all teams in the business are communicating effectively. Regular performance feedback will help your employees stay on track with their manager’s expectations.

Performance Bonuses

Awarding bonuses, financial or otherwise, helps to keep motivation levels high. Rewards that are offered when your business reaches a certain level of profit in any given month, or year, will go a long way in making your employees feel like part of a bigger team and is also a great way to retain staff over longer periods.
If you want to ensure that your HR team is running as effectively as possible, check out our reading list below. The books we’ve listed are the best human resources books available, as recommended by top experts, entrepreneurs, and professionals in the industry.

Best HR Books

Hire With Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams

In what regards the professional side, if we talk about headhunting, it still remains an inspiration for me what Lou Adler wrote in

Madalina Uceanu

Managing Partner/CareerAdvisor

Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility

Patty McCord’s compelling account of the culture that made Netflix succeed should be required reading for everyone who wants their business to thrive in the 21st century. A natural-born storyteller, McCord shows us how the Netflix ‘methodology’ of radical honesty, debating everything and relentlessly focusing on the future can set us up to win in the 21st century. With Powerful, McCord challenges, entertains, and inspires as she sets out how we can bring out the best in ourselves and others.

Arianna Huffington

Founder/Thrive Global

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well

These books and their core ideas have stuck with me the most and continue to guide me when I hit crossroads along the way.

Andra Zaharia

Freelance Content Marketer/The Content Habit

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

In his 2012 shareholder letter, Buffett praises The Outsiders as "an outstanding book about CEOs who excelled at capital allocation."

Berkshire Hathaway plays a major role in the book. One chapter is on director Tom Murphy, who Buffett says is "overall the best business manager I've ever met."

Warren Buffett

CEO/Berkshire Hathaway

What Color Is Your Parachute?

"What Color is Your Parachute" by R. Bolles is iconic for a student or fresh graduate who has no clue what's next. It helped me realized that even though I was graduating from computer science, my heart was in training and HR so that's how I chose my masters and then built a career path that mixed both IT and HR. Basically it gave me the courage to "go for it", showed me that it's ok to mix the two fields. This proved to be a very smart decision later on, because this mix is a rare one thus well paid, too.

Armina Sirbu

Serial Entrepreneur

The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table

Minda Harts hasn't just written an excellent, down to earth, pragmatically actionable guide to career success for women of color; she's written a searingly accurate and brutally honest account of what it's like to be Black while working and the countless barriers and microaggressions women of color face, that needs to be read by every white woman and man so that everyone can work together to break those barriers down forever. The Memo is a must-buy, a must-read, and a must-gift--I'd recommend every Chief Diversity Officer and HR department provide copies for all of management to read.

Cindy Gallop

Advertising Consultant, Founder/IfWeRanTheWorld & MakeLoveNotPorn

Breathe To Succeed: Increase Workplace Productivity, Creativity, and Clarity through the Power of Mindfulness

Breathe to Succeed is an excellent prescription for any aspiring or current leader. Sandy Abrams’ new book offers valuable insights into addressing the hectic schedule and constant stress of everyone from an employee to the CEO. By understanding the causes and effects of stress on the human body, Sandy offers tools of the mind and breath to find your way through the storm and achieve optimal health.

Mark Bertolini

Former Chairman & CEO/Aetna

Growing Up Fast: How New Agile Practices Can Move Marketing And Innovation Past The Old Business Stalemates

In proper combination, innovation creates marketing opportunities, which create innovation, which creates marketing opportunities, which create innovation, which creates marketing, and on and on.

Kevan Lee

Marketing Director/Buffer

Virtual Freedom: How to Work with Virtual Staff to Buy More Time, Become More Productive, and Build Your Dream Business

This book shall become the bible on how to build your dream business, without working yourself into an early grave!

John Lee Dumas

Host & Founder/Entrepreneur On Fire

The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success

The EQ Edge by Edward Book is an excellent book about emotional intelligence with different exercises of how to deal with irrational thoughts in a rational manner. The exercise is called the ABCDE system I use it as part of my coaching technique & with practice it becomes a natural skill that helps us to avoid unnecessary fears and illusions.

Nadia Al Sheikh

Founder/Deal’n

The Virgin Way: If It’s Not Fun, It’s Not Worth Doing

I would recommend any biographies of business people, but definitely I would have on the list any of Richard Branson's books. That should cover a better business and mentality understanding.

Madalina Uceanu

Managing Partner/CareerAdvisor

Your Erroneous Zones: Escape negative thinking and take control of your life

The second category of books would be related to self awareness and keeping a positive approach to life generally, which I think makes a lot of difference in the way you create your professional path as well. Here you can either go more on the NLP approach and watch Tony Robbins interventions, or more towards the spiritual path, maybe at a later stage and read Wayne Dyer's books.

Madalina Uceanu

Managing Partner/CareerAdvisor

You’ll See It When You Believe It

The second category of books would be related to self awareness and keeping a positive approach to life generally, which I think makes a lot of difference in the way you create your professional path as well. Here you can either go more on the NLP approach and watch Tony Robbins interventions, or more towards the spiritual path, maybe at a later stage and read Wayne Dyer's books.

Madalina Uceanu

Managing Partner/CareerAdvisor

The Power of Intention

The second category of books would be related to self awareness and keeping a positive approach to life generally, which I think makes a lot of difference in the way you create your professional path as well. Here you can either go more on the NLP approach and watch Tony Robbins interventions, or more towards the spiritual path, maybe at a later stage and read Wayne Dyer's books.

Madalina Uceanu

Managing Partner/CareerAdvisor

Wishes Fulfilled: Mastering the Art of Manifesting

The second category of books would be related to self awareness and keeping a positive approach to life generally, which I think makes a lot of difference in the way you create your professional path as well. Here you can either go more on the NLP approach and watch Tony Robbins interventions, or more towards the spiritual path, maybe at a later stage and read Wayne Dyer's books.

Madalina Uceanu

Managing Partner/CareerAdvisor

It’s Your Business: 183 Essential Tips that Will Transform Your Small Business

If you know an entrepreneur, give them a copy of @jjramberg new book to help them on their journey.

Simon Sinek

Best-selling Author

Man’s Search for Meaning – The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust

Frankl is one of the most profound modern thinkers on meaning and purpose. His contribution was to change the question from the vague philosophy of “What is the meaning of life?” to man being asked and forced to answer with his actions. He looks at how we find purpose by dedicating ourselves to a cause, learning to love and finding a meaning to our suffering. His other two books on the topic, Will To Meaning and Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning have gems in them as well.

Ryan Holiday

Founder/Brass Check

The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness

“The Compassionate Instinct” is a great resource for those who wish to enhance their socio-psyche abilities for thought leadership, especially for wellbeing leadership development. The literature probes into the infinite resources of human capital, particularly into avenues of humans’ compassionate instinct. Our compassionate instinct plays a cardinal role in how we choose to connect to others.

Stephen Lew

Director/The School of Positive Psychology

The New One Minute Manager

The human world occurs in language so best get good at it!

Bill Liao

General Partner/RebelBio, SOSV.com

Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World

Bold is a visionary roadmap for people who believe they can change the world---and offers invaluable advice about bringing together the partners and technologies to help them do it.

Bill Clinton

Former USA President

Crystallizing Public Opinion

Crystallizing Public Opinion was written by the Godfather of PR. Bernays combined crowd psychology with the psychoanalytical ideas of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, to become the first thinker to explain how PR could thrive by managing public opinion. It’s truly incredible how poignant his insights and analysis remain in popular culture.

Ronn Torossian

CEO, Founder/5W PR

Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education

Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education by Sir Ken Robinson - a book for educator or edu-preneur or anyone who wants to make a change in the education realm.

Ng Rong Xin

Co-Founder/Explorer Junior

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

Here are some of the guests and some of their books, in no particular order. I recommend all of the below books. If I didn't like a book, I wouldn't have them on the show.

James Altucher

Founder/StockPickr