3 Books Every HR Consultant Should Read if They Want a £70K HR Consultancy

I recently shared that I'm an avid reader and that provoked a lot of questions from people... They all mainly had one theme though... 

• What do you recommend I read

And rather than go back to each person individually, I figured it'd be easier, and better, to share a quick podcast with you all.

So here it is, the 3 books I recommend you read to be the best You that you can be.

Enjoy!

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Transcript

I recently shared on my podcast that I’m an avid reader and this got a few responses.

• What do you read?
• What would you recommend?
• What are the best books you’ve ever read?

So, I figured why not share all that information in an email for you guys - and then share a bonus podcast in the coming weeks for the wider public later… and then a LinkedIn article too.

(Quite the benefit of being on my mailing list, eh? 😉)

So, without further ado… Here are the top 3 books I’ve ever read… and which you should read too.

Firstly, The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.

I’ve spoken about this before… multiple times… but in case you missed it… let me talk about it again!

This is a book which will help you be productive, feel successful and be more successful.

It’s effectively a morning routine, but one which sets you up for the day - and encompasses the best lessons from the high achievers around the world.

If you’ve ever read, Think and Grow Rich (which I found a bit stale and repetitive) then you’ll notice some similarities.

This doesn’t mean you should read one book or the other first, or you only need to read one of them.

Just read the Miracle Morning as it’s better and more up-to-date.

Besides, Miracle Morning builds on what is discussed in Think and Grow Rich and makes it easily applicable.

And then supports you to apply it too.

Which I think is something missing in a lot of books - they don’t always help you apply what you learn.

Anyway, the main message - and lesson - of this book for me was, that starting your day off right is the first step to having a great day… and a great life!

If you want to try out the app, there’s a free 30 day trial for you here.

The next book I’d recommend is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.

I’m not sure where to start with this book, because it’s such an excellent read.

It’s a chunkier book than the previous one, but the lessons you can take away from this book are incredible… and the stories, examples and diagrams to bring the lessons to life are very effective.

This is a book I’ve read twice… written and drawn notes all over… and will certainly read again (and again).

The main message I took away from 7 Habits was compassion - always looking at things from the other person’s perspective.

See,a lot of the lessons were about being a leader and looking out for your fellow human.

Which then brings itself around to helping you in the long term.

Accordingly, I think the most important lesson I took away from this book was, “Win-win-win”...  which means focusing on making sure everyone gets a great result in whatever relationship you’re involved in.

The third book I’d recommend is Atomic Habits by James Clear.

This book is a modern classic and will be read and re-read by people for years to come.

As the name suggests, the book is about habits and is a great look at how habits form and how you can use that knowledge to develop habits of your own.

Equally, the book then shares how to break habits too if that’s interesting for you.

(Speaking of which, if you want to quit smoking - or know someone who wants to quit - then check out Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. It works.)

There are stories, examples and diagrams to bring the lessons to life - just like with the other books, and it’s very applicable too.

The main message I got from Atomic Habits was that change isn’t overnight and you gotta keep working away to get the result you want.

I think the most important lesson I took away from this book was, “You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems”.

Which basically means, you have to make it easy for yourself to change.

As a brucey-bonus, I wanted to recommend another book, The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga.

This book is based on the teachings of Alfred Adler, who seems to be quite forgotten in the psychology world.

Which seems strange as Adler was one of the three giants of 19th century psychology alongside Freud and Jung.

Adler believed in the power of self, and it’s a compelling lesson.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

Firstly, a quick note that this book isn’t perfect… See, the book is written from the perspective of a “youth” talking to a “philosopher” and that setup can be distracting at times.

Indeed, this book took a while for me to finish - especially compared with the other 3 books I’ve recommended.

But don’t take that as an excuse not to read it.

The book is excellent, is very logic driven and whether you agree with the theories or not you’ll certainly have something to think about and discuss with peers.

There are various lessons you can take away, consider and/or apply to your life, but for me, the main takeaway for me would be that I control everything in my life.

I control my happiness, my beliefs, my thoughts, my feelings, and my actions too.

So, if I want to do something, then I can do it, and if I want to feel something then I can feel it, and if I want to believe something, then I can believe  it. etc. etc.

Effectively, I have supreme control over everything in my life.

And so do you.

Now, a quick disclaimer… before you say, “Yeah, but what about…” please don’t.

I’m honestly not an expert in this book or in Adler’s thinking.

All I did was read the book and enjoy it and I’m suggesting you do the same.

Whether you want to accept the teachings is up to you.

For me, there were some teachings I really took to heart, and some I couldn’t quite get on board with.

So yeah, those are the 3(+1) best books I’ve ever read and would highly recommend you check out too.

If you have any books to recommend that I’ve missed out then send me a message on LinkedIn and share them with me.

I’m always happy to have new books brought to my attention.

Until next time,

Nick