5 Strategic Ways to Break Stereotypes and Reclaim HR

Why does everyone hate HR? Why does HR get stuck with the negative stereotypes of being old, dowdy, slow, bloated, bureaucratic and run by middle-aged women who love cats? And how can we fix that? In direct, frank, unconventional language, Laurie Ruettimann breaks down stereotypes about human resources and advises HR pro on how they can reclaim their work and their reputations.

Six Competencies for the Future of Human Resources

As usual, Ulrich and company have written a well researched book that offers a very comprehensive instruction regarding the vast range of skills and actions to operate effectively in HR. I really liked the suggestions that matched up with the skills they proposed. In total, this is an excellent resource for HR professionals to draw upon in self-evaluating, but also plotting a course for development. It has a few key flaws though that I had trouble with. The first one being that they have suggested that the next step in HR's evolution is "customer centric." While no one would argue with the attractiveness of the notion, it's a bit of an academic point of view. For real practitioners who are adding value both tactically and strategically, the real next step in HR's evolution is to work cross-functionally at the organizational level on a company-wide basis delivering human capital initiatives. There is still a long way to go for the HR community to accomplish this.

Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers

In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore shows that in the Technology Adoption Life Cycle - which begins with innovators and moves to early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards - there is a vast chasm between the early adopters and the early majority. While early adopters are willing to sacrifice for the advantage of being first, the early majority waits until they know that the technology actually offers improvements in productivity. The challenge for innovators and marketers is to narrow this chasm and ultimately accelerate adoption across every segment.

The third edition brings Moore's classic work up to date with dozens of new examples of successes and failures, new strategies for marketing in the digital world, and Moore's most current insights and findings. He also includes two new appendices, the first connecting the ideas in Crossing the Chasm to work subsequently published in his Inside the Tornado, and the second presenting his recent groundbreaking work for technology adoption models for high-tech consumer markets.

Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market

Consultants and business strategists Treacy and Wiersema provide the conceptual model for companies to attain and sustain market leadership. Their plan is simple: put unmatched value (best product, best total solution, or best total cost) in the marketplace while meeting threshold standards in other dimensions of value. Making the improvement of the chosen value to customers the focus of the entire company will result in corresponding shareholder value. The authors follow up their theory with practical guidelines for constructing an appropriate operational model, and offer many examples using well-known companies. A landmark work in market strategy that goes beyond TQM principles, this volume is essential for entrepreneurs and for public, academic, and corporate libraries.