Dave Ulrich

Dave Ulrich is the Rensis Likert Professor Emeritus at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and a partner at the RBL Group. He has published over 200 articles and book chapters and over 30 books. He edited Human Resource Management for ten years, served on editorial board of four other journals and on the Board of Directors for Herman Miller (16 years), has spoken to large audiences in 90 countries; performed workshops for over half of the Fortune 200; coached successful business leaders, and is a Distinguished Fellow in the National Academy of Human Resources. He posts weekly and comments daily on LinkedIn (over 380,000 followers and 3,300,000 page views in 2024) and has a free weekly newsletter with over 230,000 subscribers. His work creates ideas with impact about how to deliver stakeholder value through human capability (talent + organization + leadership + HR).

With co-authors, he has influenced thinking about modern organizations ("Reinventing the Organization") by empirically showing how organization delivers four times business results over talent ("Victory Through Organization"), defined organizations as bundles of capabilities ("Organization Capability") and worked to delineate capabilities of talent management ("Why of Work; Talent Accelerator"), culture change ("GE Workout"), learning ("Learning Organization Capability"), and collaboration ("Boundaryless Organization").

With colleagues, he has also articulated the basics of effective leadership ("Leadership Code and Results-Based Leadership"), connected leadership with customers ("Leadership Brand"), shown how leadership delivers market value ("Why the Bottom Line Isn’t"), shapes investor expectations with an ability to measure leadership ("Leadership Capital Index"), and synthesized ways to ensure that leadership aspirations turn into actions ("Leadership Sustainability").

He and his colleagues have shaped the HR profession and he has been called the “father of modern HR” and “HR thought leader of the decade” by focusing on HR outcomes, governance, competencies, and practices ("HR Champions"; "HR Value Added"; "HR Transformation"; "HR Competencies"; "HR Outside In"). He spearheaded a “gift” book on the future of HR ("The Rise of HR"), distributed to over 1,500,000 HR professionals, in which 70 thought leaders freely shared their insights.