People-First Isn't Soft. It's Smart. One book that deeply shaped how I approach HR is Firms of Endearment by David B Wolfe, Rajendra Sisodia, and Jagdish Sheth. It flips the traditional idea of shareholder primacy on its head—and makes a solid business case for leading with humanity. What stuck with me wasn't just the stories, but the data. Companies that put people first (employees and stakeholders) consistently outperform those that don't. That insight helped fuel how we built The New Workforce. We don't see people-centered practices as perks. They're core to the model. When you treat talent like partners instead of line items, you don't just get a better culture, you get better results.
One book that fundamentally shaped my approach to people-centered HR is *Drive* by Daniel H. Pink. When I first read it, I was in the early stages of building out our team at Nerdigital, and we were wrestling with how to create an environment that didn't just attract talent—but truly motivated and retained it. What struck me most about *Drive* is Pink's breakdown of what truly fuels people: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. It challenged a lot of traditional HR thinking around rewards and performance management. Instead of focusing solely on extrinsic motivators—like bonuses or rigid KPIs—we started asking better questions. What gives our team members a sense of ownership? How can we support their growth in a meaningful way? Are we connecting their work to a clear, inspiring mission? That thinking led us to redesign several internal practices. We implemented flexible work structures where people have more control over their schedules and goals. We began conducting "growth mapping" sessions instead of annual reviews—focused less on evaluation and more on development. And perhaps most importantly, we worked harder to consistently communicate the *why* behind what we're building. The result has been more engaged people and a stronger culture rooted in trust and shared purpose. *Drive* reminded me that HR isn't just about compliance or operations—it's about unlocking potential. And when you build systems that reflect that, it doesn't just benefit the individual—it lifts the entire organization. If you're serious about creating people-first workplaces, *Drive* is the kind of book that doesn't just give you theories—it helps you rethink how your team works at a foundational level.
Book: Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. This one hit me hard. As someone running an addiction treatment center, I don't have the luxury of just thinking in spreadsheets and productivity. I work with people who carry heavy stories—both the clients and the staff. Leaders Eat Last reminded me that leadership is about protecting your people, not managing them. Before reading it, I thought being a strong leader meant keeping everything moving at all costs. But that mindset burns people out, especially in behavioral health. This book made it clear: if your team doesn't feel safe—emotionally, mentally, and professionally—they won't perform. Worse, they won't stay. We changed a lot after that. We removed the "clock-in, clock-out" mentality. Instead of top-down HR policies, we focused on trust and transparency. I sat down with staff, listened more, dictated less. We built an environment where people felt seen and supported, not just hired to fill roles. It reshaped how I look at HR entirely. HR isn't a department—it's your culture. If your people don't feel cared for, they won't care for others. In our field, that's a disaster. Recovery depends on real human connection. And that starts from the top. Leaders Eat Last gave me the backbone to run this place like a team, not a machine. We're not perfect, but the loyalty, energy, and passion I see from my staff now—that's proof it works.
One book that has had a big impact on my people centric HR approach is "Work Rules!" by Laszlo Bock, the former SVP of People Operations at Google. What I love about this book is how it challenges the idea that people need to be tightly controlled by rules and policies to perform well. Instead it says trust employees, give them autonomy and focus on meaningful work and you'll get higher engagement and better business outcomes. One of the key takeaways that has shaped my work is Bock's concept of data driven empathy. He argues that we should use people analytics not to micromanage but to understand what matters most to employees—whether it's flexibility, recognition or growth opportunities—and then design HR practices around those insights. After reading Work Rules! I started rethinking everything from recruitment to employee development. For example we changed our onboarding process to focus less on compliance checklists and more on helping new hires feel connected and purposeful from day one. We also introduced more transparent feedback systems and encouraged managers to act more as coaches than gatekeepers. This book reminded me that great HR is about creating environments where people can do their best work and feel good doing it. It's not about perks—it's about culture, trust and treating employees like capable, thoughtful adults. Work Rules! gave me the mindset and practical tools to make HR more human and it continues to guide my decisions today.
Michael Bungay Stanier's "The Coaching Habit" completely transformed my understanding of people-centered leadership. One line jumped out at me: "Say less, ask more." I immediately put it into practice in my team members' 1:1s—particularly in high-pressure environments like fintech—while never looking back. Instead of offering up advice or making decisions, I had learned to ask a series of simple, open-ended questions, through which I could give people the space to think, take ownership of their answers, and feel understood. It was not about being soft—it was about being effective. At Pagoralia, and in previous start-ups like ElegirSeguro or Kikoya, seems to improve trust at a much faster rate, coached more effectively, and also prevented me from micromanaging the fast scaling of people. It also transferred easily to the ontological coaching training I received, which focuses on not only what people do, but also, who they believe they are and how they see the world. HR can become a conversation, structural change can enable culture shift, stop managing roles and start managing identities.
Drive by Daniel Pink has had a lasting impact on how I approach HR in a people-centered way. The core idea—that autonomy, mastery, and purpose drive real motivation—pushed me to challenge the outdated carrot-and-stick mindset that still lingers in many companies. I remember working with a startup that had brilliant engineers but was bleeding talent because their performance management system was rigid and micromanaged. After introducing a model inspired by Drive, where the team had more say in how they worked and what they worked on, the atmosphere shifted almost overnight. Engagement soared. At spectup, we bake this into how we support growth-stage companies too—whether it's advising founders on team structuring or building incentive plans that actually resonate. I've found that when you treat people like adults and give them a clear purpose, they don't just show up—they take ownership. That philosophy's now at the core of how we design people ops strategies for clients. It's not always easy, especially in industries where hierarchy is baked into the culture, but it's consistently worth it.
One book that has deeply influenced my approach to making HR practices more people-centered is Drive by Daniel H. Pink. It challenged my understanding of employee motivation, shifting my focus from traditional rewards and punishments to autonomy, mastery, and purpose. The idea that people are driven by internal factors rather than just external incentives reshaped how I view engagement and performance. In practice, I've implemented more flexible work schedules and encouraged personal growth initiatives for our team, empowering employees to take ownership of their roles. By prioritizing individual needs and motivations, I've seen a noticeable improvement in morale and retention. Drive taught me that when employees feel valued and have the freedom to grow, they naturally become more invested in the success of the organization.
One book that really hit home for me when it comes to building a people-centered team is Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. Now, I'm not the type to sit around quoting leadership books, but that one? It stuck. In this business—roofing—your crew is everything. You can have the best tools, the best shingles, the cleanest trucks, but if your guys don't trust you or feel respected, none of that matters. Leaders Eat Last reminded me that being the boss doesn't mean barking orders from the truck. It means taking care of your crew first—especially when things go sideways. Roofing is tough work. We're up on steep slopes in the Houston heat, day in and day out. If I don't make sure my guys feel safe, valued, and looked after, why should they give me their best? That book changed how I handled a lot of things. I started doing more one-on-ones, not just to talk shop but to actually listen. I've had guys tell me they were dealing with personal stuff—things I never would've known if I didn't make space for it. And that awareness let me lead better. I've covered missed days, adjusted schedules, even helped someone find a counselor during a rough patch. Not because I had to. Because I should. Bottom line: Roofing may be about materials and muscle, but running a roofing crew? That's all people. Leaders Eat Last just reminded me to put my people first—every time.
One book that reshaped how I think about people-first HR is Radical Candor by Kim Scott. It hit me hard because I realized I was either sugarcoating feedback to "be nice," or overcorrecting and coming off too blunt. The book gave me a framework to challenge directly while still caring personally—something I hadn't seen modeled well in previous roles. After reading it, I started delivering feedback in real-time and tied it to growth goals instead of waiting for performance reviews. That single shift improved how my team responded and actually strengthened trust, not tension. It also changed how we built our internal review process. We now ask managers to give "candor feedback" weekly and include space for upward feedback as part of the norm—not just during formal reviews. My advice? If you want people-centered HR, start with communication. Radical Candor shows that being honest and being kind don't have to be opposites—and that's a mindset worth embedding into every part of the employee experience.
"Drive" by Daniel H. Pink has profoundly shaped approaches to people-centered HR practices. It emphasizes the importance of autonomy, mastery, and purpose in motivating employees. This perspective encourages creating roles and environments where individuals feel empowered and valued. The book has inspired a shift toward policies that prioritize intrinsic motivation over traditional incentives. It reinforces the need to align organizational goals with personal growth opportunities. By focusing on meaningful work and employee engagement, it fosters a culture of collaboration and innovation.
The book that completely shifted how I approach people in business was "Radical Candor" by Kim Scott. It hit me hard because I realized I was either being too nice and avoiding tough conversations or being too direct without showing enough care. That balance of caring personally while challenging directly became a compass for how I now handle team feedback, hiring, and even letting people go. It shaped the way I structure one-on-ones, give feedback, and build culture in our agency. I stopped thinking of HR as a checklist or compliance job and started seeing it as a relationship-building process with accountability. The book gave me permission to be real with people without being harsh or fake. And when I did that, performance and loyalty improved across the board.