By Jenny Dearborn and David Swanson
Published by Wiley
£22.99/ US$28.00/ EUR 25.50
Hardcover and e-book
ISBN: 9781119382201
Too many HR leaders have resisted data and analytics because they envision their jobs as being personal to each employee and the company that employs them. Jenny Dearborn and David Swanson’s new book THE DATA DRIVEN LEADER: A Powerful Approach to Delivering Measurable Business Impact Through People Analytics shows what HR professionals, and their companies, will miss out on if they hold on to this outdated perception, and reveals how many of today’s most formidable leadership challenges can be addressed with human resources-focused and other data analytics.
It tells the story of a successful sales executive who, after leading an analytics-driven turnaround (in Data Driven, this book’s predecessor), faces a new turnaround challenge as chief human resources officer. It explores how to transform the HR function and overall organisational effectiveness by using data to make decisions grounded in facts vs. opinions, identify root causes behind companies’ thorniest problems and move toward a winning, future-focused business strategy.
“Studies show that while many CEOs feel talent is a top competitive differentiator, an increasing number aren’t sure they have the employees they need to succeed now or in the future. Worse yet, they don’t feel their human resources organisations are equipped to help. It’s no wonder we see more CHROs replaced by executives from marketing, operations, or finance - disciplines that have been using data and analytics for years to drive their operations and outcomes,” write Dearborn and Swanson. “We must rise to the challenge, designing data-driven people strategies and the programmes to achieve them, as catalysts for change and transformation.”
Most organisations capture and report data, but data is useless without analysis that leads to action. The Data Driven Leader shows HR leaders how to use this tremendous asset to take an organisation to the top of their industry. The authors explain why HR professionals can and must:
- Understand essential data science principles and corporate analytics models
- Identify and execute effective data analytics initiatives
- Boost HR and company productivity and performance with metrics that matter
- Shape an analytics-centric culture that generates data driven leaders
- Appreciate why there's so much pushback against expensive and ineffective HR technology and software implementation and what to do about it
- Learn how data can help leaders align employee goals with business outcomes
- Recognise which data is helpful and the data that can be harmful
- Overcome a team's resistance to change
- Realise the impact of low engagement on productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction
“Our profession has evolved from administrative experts in Personnel or Industrial Relations to today’s top CHROs - key executives driving measurable business performance. We are encouraged by our collective progress, but also know that HR has much farther to go,” Dearborn and Swanson explain. “Embracing data analytics is key to advancing as a profession and successfully transitioning our organisations into the future.”
Whether seeking practical approaches to begin an analytics journey or additional insights to further develop any analytics efforts, this book is for HR professionals at all levels. Dearborn and Swanson’s goal is to inform, motivate and inspire leadership teams to combine the power of data and analytics with HR expertise, thus enabling them to more effectively use every organisation's most precious resources: its people’s time and energy.
The Data Driven Leader is available now wherever books and ebooks are sold.
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About the Authors
Jenny Dearborn is the Chief Learning Officer and Senior Vice President at SAP. As global Chief Learning Officer for the approximately 90,000- employees at SAP, Jenny leads an internationally-acclaimed and award-winning team recognized as the #1 performing corporate learning department in the world by eLearning Magazine.
Jenny is a recognized thought leader in human capital management and general business, and is a regular contributor to Forbes, The Huffington Post and Fast Company, among others. She has been named as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology by the National Diversity Council, and she was the recipient of the Silicon Valley Women of Influence Award for 2014 and the Silicon Valley Tribute to Women in Industry Award for 2013.
Before SAP, Jenny was Chief Learning Officer at SuccessFactors, where she won numerous industry awards for the measurable business impact of her sales enablement initiatives. She was also global Chief Learning Architect and the Chief Learning Officer for the Americas at Sun Microsystems. Prior to that, Jenny was at Hewlett-Packard, where she started as an instructor and instructional designer and progressed to executive positions as the Learning & Development leader for Global Sales & Enterprise Marketing, Global Technology Services and Global Corporate Learning Strategy.
Although Jenny has deep roots in Silicon Valley, with degrees from UC Berkeley, San Jose State and Stanford University, she has a strong focus in international business and has traveled extensively in her career. Jenny is on the Board of Directors at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the San Jose State University School of Business and The Commonwealth Club. Through the Fortune Most Powerful Women Network, she is a mentor for the U.S. State Department to female entrepreneurs in developing countries.
David Swanson has more than thirty years of human resource management experience. He was most recently executive vice president of human resources for SAP SuccessFactors, partnering with the company’s sales organization to showcase how SAP is using SAP HR. Prior to that, he served as chief human resources officer for SAP North America and global head of HR for SAP’s products and innovation organization, where he delivered the people strategy to drive business performance.
In addition, he has held executive human resources positions at a number of technology companies, supporting global development, marketing, sales and service organizations. Swanson is a keynote speaker and panelist on the future of HR, focusing on how HR can impact business through analytics and big data.
He actively supports the human resources community as the current President and Board Member of the Bay Area Human Resources Executive Council (BAHREC) a SHRM Affiliate Chapter and a regular presenter and facilitator with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Northern California Human Resources Association (NCHRA).
Swanson has served on the innovation advisory board of the HULT International Business School and an adjunct lecturer with the University of California, Santa Cruz Extension.
He lives with his family in the Santa Cruz, California, mountains. He can be reached at @DavidSwansonHR and https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidswansonhr.
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