Recognize This! – To truly lead others, we must never stop learning.

Recently, I received an email from Sudan asking me for my recommendations on top 3 books in HR. I thought this was too good of an opportunity to pass up and open up to you, my readers, for a bit of crowdsourcing as well.

Below are some of favorite books in four categories. I’m lucky in that we have a bit of an informal book club at Globoforce where we share around books, which ultimately end up in our Globoforce library. These have crossed my desk sometime in the last few years, and I’ve found them quite valuable. What others would you recommend?

HR/Management/Leadership

• The ASTD Management Development Handbook edited by Lisa Haneberg (each chapter is contributed by a different author)
• No Asshole Rule and Good Boss, Bad Boss, both by Bob Sutton
• First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman (recommended by Sudan in the email I received, but also one of my favorites)

Company Culture

• The Culture Cycle: How to Shape the Unseen Force that Transforms Performance by James Heskett (I’ll post a review of this one tomorrow)
• Building a Magnetic Culture: How to Attract and Retain Top Talent to Create an Engaged, Productive Workforce by Kevin Sheridan
• Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results by Roger Connors and Tom Smith.

Recognition and Rewards

• Reward Systems: Does Yours Measure Up? by Steven Kerr
• Drive by Dan Pink
• The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk

Employee Engagement

• The Enemy of Engagement: Put an End to Workplace Frustration – and Get the Most from Your Employees by Mark Royal and Tom Agnew
• The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer
• Leading Outside the Lines: How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your Team, and Get Better Results by Jon R. Katzenbach and Zia Khan

I’ve reviewed or written about most of these on Recognize This! over the years. A quick search in the blog will take you to my perspective on them.

What books would you recommend?