The Annual "Our Fave Books" Issue 📚

Good morning!

Around this time last year, we shared a list of books that had us thinking differently about work and our relationships to it, and it quickly became one of our most-loved issues. So, we’re making it a tradition! Here’s what the B+E team is reading and recommending this year as we imagine and build the future of work:

The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker not only had helpful tips on how to curate thoughtful gatherings in my personal life, but it also helped me think more creatively about how to approach work touchpoints like onboarding or retreats. - Gillian Jose-Riz, Senior Consultant and Compensation Specialist

I have three to share. First, Restoring the Kinship Worldview. This is a collection from 28 different Indigenous leaders centring kinship principles for future leadership. It gets into the value of egalitarian rule and process, how to reinforce community well-being over individualism, etc. It's helpful because it outlines some really great models for non-traditional hierarchy/structure, it also gets a bit into psychology of motivation & wellbeing. I think it has valuable learnings for leaders, org design, and organizational development.

Next, Wageless Life: A Manifesto for a Future Beyond Capitalism. This book explores how capitalism paired with Western democratic models has led to a shrinking economic system, instead of a world with plenty. But this one (unlike others on this subject) gets into potential future systems. This one touches on the need for collectivism and community.

Finally, Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice. If you only read one of my favourite books, let it be this one. This is an intersectional toolkit on disability justice and can be applied to all workplaces. It centres disability justice as an act of radical care and love, it is compelling, beautiful, and speaks to the need and value of community care. - Stephanie Bergman, Senior Consultant, Team Lead

I've recommended Emotional Intelligence 2.0 to a few people (including my Dad). It explains EQ in a really simple way, highlighting personal competence (self-awareness and self-management) and social competence (social awareness and relationship management) as the key pillars of EQ. It's been helpful to show any people who are struggling here, especially with the examples for each pillar and fun quiz” - Lauren Freeman, HR Consultant

Are you reading anything great right now that’s inspired your approach to your work? It doesn’t have to be a buttoned-up business book- in fact, we’d love it if it wasn’t. Send us a reply; we’d love to share a reader recommendation roundup!

Stay bright,

Nora

Bright Reads 🌞

Curated reads and resources re: building great places to work.

• The Death of Shopify's Start-Up Dream, One Layoff at a Time (The Walrus)

• "AI-First" is the New "Return to Office" (Anil Dash)

• A Simple Diagram to Determine, “Should This Be a Meeting?” (NOBL)

• The Creativity Hack No One Told You About: Read the Obits (The MIT Press Reader)

• Please Exceed Your Authority (Leading Sapiens)

• Ontario's Unemployment Rate Rises to 7.8% in April 2025 (CBC News)

• Klarna Is Hiring Customer Service Agents After AI Couldn't Cut It on Calls (Entrepreneur)

• How to Be Concise (Wes Kao)

What’s New at Bright + Early ⛅️

Need to get your team’s compensation sorted ASAP? Our comp team has a (rare) gap between projects, which means we can jump in right away on your compensation philosophy, market salary research, pay bands, or whatever’s on your comp to-do-list without our usual waitlist. Compensation is one of our favourite things to work on, and we think we’re pretty good at it. Take it from Jacqueline, Director of People and Finance at Palette Skills:

^{“Working with the B+E team (Trisha + GiIl are rockstars!) has been an absolute joy and pleasure. The project scoping, timelines, and final deliverable far exceeded our expectations. We engaged with B+E during a moment of significant restructuring and needed a comprehensive compensation strategy to support it within a tight timeframe. Despite competing timelines on our end, B+E was able to deliver to us an evidence-backed compensation philosophy and job leveling framework that has been perceived positively throughout the organization. Employees are now referencing job levels and bands naturally, which has helped us formalize, legitimize, and bring transparency to our approach to compensation and growth.”}

Thanks, Jacqueline! If you’d like to claim the spot, just reply to this email and we’ll be in touch.

Bright Jobs ☀️

Every issue, we’ll share a curated list of exciting jobs at Bright + Early partners. Bright + Early organizations are all committed to building human, inclusive places to work. Note that we’re not involved in hiring– please apply directly.

• Blue Door is on a mission to enable housing stability in Canada, and they’re hiring!

• Help Mozilla keep building a better internet as their Director of Product for Firefox (Growth)

• Help shape the future of democracy at Change.org as a member of their engineering, communications, or social media team.

• Looking for fun in the summer sun? Grape Witches is hiring folks to serve natural and sustainable wine on their summer patio.

• Kotn, a mission-driven and ethically-sourced clothing manufacturer and brand, is hiring for various roles across retail, supply chain and finance.

Coming Up 👀

May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia

May 20 is Victoria Day in Canada, with the federal stat holiday on May 19.

May 23 is Vesak, the Buddhist celebration of Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and death

May 27 is Memorial Day in the US (stat holiday)

May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada, and both Jewish American Heritage Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in the US.

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