HR from the Outside in: Six Competencies for the Future of Human Resources

“This definitive work on HR competencies provides ideas and tools that help HR professionals develop their career and make their organization effective.”
―Edward E. Lawler III, Professor, University of Southern California

“This book is a crucial blueprint of what it takes to succeed. A must have for every HR professional.”
―Lynda Gratton, Professor, London Business School

“One single concept changed the HR world forever: ‘HR business partner’. Through consistent cycles of research and practical application, Dave and his team have produced and update the most comprehensive set of HR competencies ever.”
―Horacio Quiros, President, World Federation of People Management Associations

"Packed with facts, evidence, and prescriptive advice. It is about being a business leader first, and an HR professional second.”
―Randy MacDonald, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, IBM Corporation

"The concepts and competencies presented in this book provide HR leaders with new insights."
―Gina Qiao, Senior Vice President, HR Lenovo

“Powerful, relevant and timely! Defines "new HR" in a pragmatic way. This book is a must for leaders and HR folks who seek to create sustainable competitive advantage.”
―Satish Pradhan, Chief, Group Human Resources, Tata Sons Limited

“You can’t argue with the data! This book is a definitive and practical guide to learning the HR competencies for success.”
―John Lynch, Senior Vice President, HR, General Electric

“A must read for any HR executive. This research-based competency model is particularly compelling because it is informed by the perspective of non-HR executives and stakeholders.”
―Sue Meisinger, Distinguished speaker and author, former CEO of SHRM

"Read this book for a unique long-term perspective on where HR competencies have brought us and must take us in future."
―John Boudreau, Professor, University of Southern California and Research Director, Center for Effective Organizations

Jon Younger career has been a mix of consulting, executive management and HR leadership.


Wayne Brockbank is a Clinical Professor of Business of the Strategic Human Resource Planning Program at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.

Dave Ulrich is a Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, a partner at the RBL Group, and Executive Director of the RBL Institute. He studies how organizations build capabilities of leadership, speed, learning, accountability, and talent through leveraging human resources. He has helped generate award winning data bases that assess alignment between strategies, organization capabilities, HR practices, HR competencies, and customer and investor results. He has published over 200 articles and book chapters and 23 books.

Jon Younger is a partner of the RBL Group, leads the firm’s strategic HR practice, and is a director of the RBL Institute. Jon's career has combined experience in consulting, executive management and HR leadership. He has also managed executive compensation and HR strategyHe is a co-author of many articles and book chapters and two books: HR Transformation (2009 Justin Allen, Wayne Brockbank, Jon Younger, Mark Nyman), and HR Competencies (2008 Wayne Brockbank, Dani Johnson, Kurt Sandholtz, Jon Younger). His articles have appeared in HR Management Journal, HR Planning Journal, Harvard Business Review, Strategic HR Review among others.

Wayne Brockbank is a Clinical Professor of Business at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and an Emeritus Partner in the RBL Consulting Group. At the Ross School of Business, he is the Co-director (with Dave Ulrich and Dick Beatty) and core faculty of the Advanced Human Resource Executive Program. He is also the Director of HR executive programs in Hong Kong, India, Singapore, and United Arab Emirates. Over the past twenty years, these executive programs have been consistently rated as the best HR executive programs in the United States and Europe by the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune and Leadership Excellence. He serves on the core faculty to Michigan's senior management executive programs in India. He has held visiting faculty appointments in Argentina, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.

Mike Ulrich is a PhD student at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. Before returning to the university, he was a Research Associate for RBL Group where he led the data collection and analysis of the RBL/Michigan global HRCS. Mike's background is focused on research methods and statistical analysis. Mike's work with The RBL Group focused on managing the firm’s many research studies (including the HRCS, Leadership Code, and talent management research).