The Rise of HR: Wisdom from 73 Thought Leaders, is a recent anthology published

by the HR Certification Institute in collaboration with Dave Ulrich, Professor,

University of Michigan and Co-founder of The RBL Group, Bill Schiemann, CEO,
Metrus Group, Inc. and Libby Sartain, Business Advisor

Consolidating ten themes from leading HR voices -

The HR professional of today is more likely to be a talent expert, a technology

expert and a consultant. They must focus on 3 categories of skills:

how to recruit, develop, and manage people;

how to organize, enable and improve the organization; and
how to manage, leverage, and exploit data and technology.

1. Getting the transformational change process right in an organization means

attending to the Structural, Cultural and Human elements. All change
requires an expenditure of physical, emotional and cognitive resources that
should be prioritized like any other organizational asset.

2. HR leaders need to be conductors of the organizational orchestra, by

coordinating the orchestra and being comfortable balancing the various
tensions (individual versus firm, star versus supporting players, timing, and
flow). Three key elements underlying the new HR are talent, data and
strategy, and require an ability to coordinate alignment across different levels
of organizational hierarchy.

3. HR professionals will need to spend more time thinking about and developing
strategies for operating in what has become a transparent world. More than
ever before, HR professionals have to approach their role by constantly
reminding their organization to consider the question: What would happen if
an employee or customer saw this, or if this appeared on the front page of
the newspaper?

4. Creation of an employer brand is as important as our corporate brand - and

thus HR and marketing should be attached at the hip. In this age of
transparency, employees are the media and HR is essential to marketing, as
they deliver on the brand promise day in and day out.

5. In any business dialogue, an HR professional can proffer three unique

contributions - Talent, Leadership and Organization. Three dimensions of
competitive organization are organizational capabilities (what the
organization is known for, good at doing, how it allocates resources), culture
(pattern of how people think and act) and management actions (intellectual,
behavioral and process agendas).

6. Culture is the catalyst that connects executive leadership goals to HR goals

and creates a perpetual winning environment. Great cultures are created
 through everyday relationships that employees have with leaders, their work
and with one another.

7. Success in any field is based on two characteristics: long term resilience and
the ability to be centered, or "in the zone" more frequently. This resilience
center spans five aspects of our lives: our emotions, our physical selves, our
spirits, our finances and our relationships.

8. Workforce metrics is strategically important for firms because the workforce

is most firms' single largest expenditure - and the least scrutinized in
assessing its impact on value creation. HR must focus on delivering
outcomes that enable top-line growth through the firm's strategic mindset
and by leveraging the performance of individual roles that impact value
creation and top-line growth.

9. Forward-thinking HR organizations choose their leadership arenas carefully,

letting others take the lead when trends are new to HR, and taking a
leadership role as HR becomes more involved. It means gaining credibility
with functional partners from other disciplines so that they welcome the
involvement of HR in their domain and are willing to help translate and apply
their expertise to HR issues.

A strong community of highly capable and committed HR professionals, leaders and

organizations is fundamental for the rise of HR and its future evolution.