Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World
Overview
Forget what you know about the world of work
You crave feedback. Your organization’s culture is the key to its success. Strategic planning is essential. Your competencies should be measured and your weaknesses shored up. Leadership is a thing.
These may sound like basic truths of our work lives today. But actually, they’re lies. As strengths guru and bestselling author Marcus Buckingham and Cisco Leadership and Team Intelligence head Ashley Goodall show in this provocative, inspiring book, there are some big lies–distortions, faulty assumptions, wrong thinking–that we encounter every time we show up for work. Nine lies, to be exact. They cause dysfunction and frustration, ultimately resulting in workplaces that are a pale shadow of what they could be.
But there are those who can get past the lies and discover what’s real. These freethinking leaders recognize the power and beauty of our individual uniqueness. They know that emergent patterns are more valuable than received wisdom and that evidence is more powerful than dogma.
With engaging stories and incisive analysis, the authors reveal the essential truths that such freethinking leaders will recognize immediately: that it is the strength and cohesiveness of your team, not your company’s culture, that matter most; that we should focus less on top-down planning and more on giving our people reliable, real-time intelligence; that rather than trying to align people’s goals we should strive to align people’s sense of purpose and meaning; that people don’t want constant feedback, they want helpful attention.
This is the real world of work, as it is and as it should be. Nine Lies About Work reveals the few core truths that will help you show just how good you are to those who truly rely on you.
Editorial Reviews
“Nine Lies About Work, by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall, the year’s best management book, challenges the assumptions that underlie contemporary managerial practices, many of which date back to Drucker’s day. In doing so, the book offers a glimpse of a new management paradigm that may prove to be better suited to the times.” — strategy+business magazine
Named one of “Our 10 favorite new books for people managers” by SHRM (Society for Human Resource Managers)
One of the Financial Times “Business Books of the Month”
Named a Bloomberg Businessweek pick
Named one of “14 business books everyone will be reading in 2019” by Business Insider
Named one of “10 Leadership Books to Watch for in 2019” by the Washington Post
Named one of “10 Business Books You Need to Read in 2019” by Inc. magazine
Named one of “The 19 New Leadership Books to Read in 2019” by Adam Grant on LinkedIn
“Nine Lies is utterly readable, often entertaining, and not just polite, but carefully reasoned and argued using some unusual real-world examples and even some from literature.” – Human Resource Executive (hrexecutive.com)
“leads to some free thinking about the way we do our jobs and how we can approach what we do in a different way.” — Financial Times
“If a business book teaches me something new–and offers a fresh perspective on leadership–then I know it’s a rare find in the category. Nine Lies About Work is just such a book. It’s so thought provoking, I contacted the authors to speak with them directly.” — Forbes
“…should be on every boss’s bookshelf.” — Management Today
“a stimulating, no-nonsense, research-based look at things you likely believe that aren’t true – and how to apply the new findings.” — The Globe and Mail
“The act of work is human. Leading and following and working together is about human interaction and human relationships. The workplace, and the marketplace beyond it, is about emotions and attention and the desire to be seen. It is about trust and, yes, it is about love. I am always grateful to be reminded of that, to see it again clearly, to have it acknowledged. Nine Lies About Work is a great reminder, and a great guide.” — 800 CEO READ
“Give a copy of this book to everyone in your organization who’s leading a team and make it essential reading.” — The Hamilton Spectator
“If you’re looking for a refreshing read that challenges the conventional wisdom of the business world, this is a book for your shelf.” — TD magazine (Association for Talent Development)
“There is much we can learn about managing and leading our schools from its pages.” — Inside Higher Ed
Advance Praise for Nine Lies About Work:
In today’s complex world, we instinctively seek simplicity. But in many cases, it’s easier to lie to ourselves than it is to face the harsh reality–to see more of what want to see than how things really are. In Nine Lies About Work, Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall shine a light on just how dangerous those lies can be, especially in the context of our careers. Combining engaging stories about the modern workplace with nuanced quantitative analysis, Nine Lies About Work debunks the myths that surround leadership, planning, and balance in the corporate world. Everyone who reads this book is sure to be a better employee, but more importantly, a better leader. — Gen. Stan McChrystal (Ret’d), United States Army
