At a Glance
![]() Dave Ulrich, Professor, Advisor, RBL Group, University of MichiganFocus Areas: HR, Leadership, Management. Thinkers360 In-Depth Profile & Portfolio: Dave Ulrich Highlighted Content: What are New Expectations for First-Line Leaders?, Leadership Code 4.0: An Evidence-Based View of Effective Leadership. Books: Reinventing the Organization, Victory Through Organization: Why the War for Talent is Failing Your Company and What You Can Do About It. Leaderboards: Top 100 B2B Thought Leaders, Analysts & Influencers You Should Work With in 2025 (North America) ,Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Management 2023. |
Thought Leader and Influencer Interview
Thinkers360 thought leader interviews profile prominent members of the Thinkers360 community who embody the power of ideas in their work. In this edition, we speak with Dave Ulrich, Professor, University of Michigan and Advisor, RBL Group. A globally recognized expert in leadership, organizational effectiveness, and human resources, Dave has made a profound impact on both academia and the business world. His extensive body of work includes over 30 books and 200 articles, focusing on how organizations drive value through human capabilities—talent, leadership, and culture.
Dave’s thought leadership has influenced leaders and organizations across the globe. Having delivered keynotes and conducted workshops in over 90 countries, and worked with more than half of the Fortune 200 companies, he is a sought-after consultant and coach for top business leaders. His pioneering contributions to the HR profession have earned him the title of “father of modern HR,” along with numerous lifetime achievement awards.
Dave is consistently ranked among the top thought leaders and influencers shaping the future of business. He is listed on Thinkers360’s prestigious Top 100 B2B Thought Leaders, Analysts & Influencers You Should Work With in 2025 (North America). His writing and speaking continue to inspire organizations to tackle some of the toughest challenges in business, with a focus on transforming talent and leadership to deliver stakeholder value. He is committed to sharing actionable ideas with impact, empowering leaders to turn potential into performance.
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Thinkers360: Tell us a bit about your background and areas of expertise.
DU: Dave Ulrich has been the Rensis Likert Professor 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 350,000 followers and 3,300,000 page views in 2024) and has a free weekly newsletter “Human Capability Impact” with over 220,000 subscribers . His work creates ideas with impact about how to deliver stakeholder value through human capability (talent + organization + leadership + HR). He has received numerous lifetime achievement awards.
Thinkers360: What are your current responsibilities and what’s a typical day look like?
DU: I am committed to learning that creates value for others. I have found that learning comes from engaging with both ideas and thoughtful colleagues. No day is typical, but in a given week, I post a Tuesday column on linkedin and respond to comments daily. I do 2 to 4 podcasts, webinars, or interviews a week. I frequently travel to workshops and presentations around the world. I do research so that I can prepare new modules around emerging issues in talent, organization, leadership, and HR.
Thinkers360: What’s the favorite part of your current role?
DU: I like to generate and generalize ideas with impact. This means observing challenges in the work setting around human capability (talent, leadership, organization, or HR) and discovering new solutions for them. I like to observe, think, organize, write, and engage in the ideas in this space.
Editor’s Note: See Dave Ulrich’s profile to work with his directly.
Thinkers360: How do you like to work with brands who wish to engage you as a thought leader?
DU: I enjoy engaging with colleagues who have ideas that expand my thinking. This means following thought leaders and curators on linkedin, reading latest research, and sharing writing. In my 30 books, I have co authored the 30+ books with 48 people. In 2024, I had 23 co authors who taught me. When people make comments on my linkedin posts, I generally comment back and have discovered a thoughtful cohort group who also teaches me. When I do executive programs or workshop, I engage participants to learn what is on their mind.
Thinkers360: What’s your main advice for upcoming thought leaders?
DU: In terms of content: Lately, I have been exploring the simple idea of how to deliver stakeholder value through human capability. Stakeholders are all the “humans” who engage with the organization including employees but also boards customers investors citizens and others who are “human” and get value from an organization. HR is less about HR and more about deliver stakeholder value.
Human capability are the insights HR brings in talent + leadership + organization + HR function to deliver value. Much is being done in each of these four pathways.
In terms of process: I encourage myself and others to seek out challenges that do not have ready-made solutions, to observe, to reflect, to think, and to discover new ways of dealing with new challenges. I cherish history and learning from the past, but do not want recycle old ideas as much as spiral forward with new thinking.
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