Leadership BS

Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time

By: Jeffrey Pfeffer

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The author of Power, Stanford business school professor, and a leading management thinker offers a hard-hitting dissection of the leadership industry and ways to make workplaces and careers work better.

The leadership enterprise is enormous, with billions of dollars, thousands of books, and hundreds of thousands of blogs and talks focused on improving leaders. But what we see worldwide is employee disengagement, high levels of leader turnover and career derailment, and failed leadership development efforts.

In Leadership BS Jeffrey Pfeffer shines a bright light on the leadership industry, showing why it's failing and how it might be remade. He sets the record straight on the oft-made prescriptions for leaders to be honest, authentic, and modest; tell the truth; build trust; and take care of others. By calling BS on so many of the stories and myths of leadership, he gives people a more scientific look at the evidence and better information to guide their careers.

Rooted in social science and with practical examples and advice for improving management, Leadership BS encourages listeners to accept the truth and then use facts to change themselves and the world for the better.

©2015 Jeffrey Pfeffer (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

you can handle the truth

pfefferer says it like it is.
modern school of leadership failed its followers, it is time to reconsider what guides decisions in the work place. it is not about being selfish, it is about being realistic.

Sobering and Objective

Be prepared to hear the hard truth. You may not like what you hear. But there is value in understanding the business & leadership world in which we operate. This book makes that clear. What you choose to do with it, is up to you.

Great premise... With no resolution

I tried to like this book but I just don't understand what it's point was. It's subtitled "Fixing workplace..." and yet he offers no solutions other than to blast the leadership industry. Half the people he talks about failed. Half were insanely successful. I get what we are doing isn't working but it's easy to throw out examples of it not working if you don't try to come up with a solution. Disappointing

truthful and pragmatic.<br />

unlike many other books, say Maxwell, this book tell you just the way it is.

Probably the best book ever written on leadership

I long felt cynical about leadership in general and was always sceptical about the stories of inspirational leaders. This book have provide me with evidence and data to back up my conclusions.

We need a new look at how leaders are taught.

Solid Examination of the "Leadership Industry"

As someone in a leadership role, and a self-identified contrarian, I thoroughly enjoyed the very uncomfortable exposé Jeffrey Pfeffer does of the mostly unsubstantiated "leadership industry". Far too often, misinformed platitudes masquerade as sound advice when there nothing that resembles evidence to support its propagation. While I went in hoping for more actionable takeaways on methods I could use to improve my own performance, I still found high value in the discussion around the political realities of why bad behavior is so often rewarded in this field.

You Can Handle The Truth

My professional career has revolved around optimizing talent within the team and organizational setting. I appreciate this book because it is based on scientific research and verifiable data. One of the basic tenants of managing behavioral change is making sure that people understand the current status quo accurately. Until one is dissatisfied with the status quo there is no reason to change. This book will challenge the reader to think with complexity in regard to finding measurable ways to hold leaders, and ourselves, accountable for workplace culture outcomes and employee engagement.

Leadership exterminator?

A superficial reading of Jeffrey Pfeffer’s book may lead to the erroneous conclusion that this celebrated professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business is a “leadership exterminator”. That’s not true. Jeffrey courageously unmasks the “leadership industry” and demonstrate - with undeniable scientific evidence - that all the skills and traits leaders are expected to demonstrate, are typically exercised in the very opposite way. However, this is not leaders fault. This happens because the system has been designed to encourage leaders not to behave as prescribed on leadership books and talks. Pfeffer doesn’t have the solution to fix the system, but he definitely provides great guidance for anyone to survive on it.

Extremely honest and accurate assessment of Leadership

Pfeffer just did it again. This should be mandatory reading for everyone in business or any managerial role.

Antidote to Bromides from Leadership Gurus

The leadership industry is full of inspirational, feel-good talk which does not match what the majority of organizational leaders look like. According to Pfeffer, most leaders act out of their own self-interest and are rarely held accountable for bad behavior. Individuals and organizations should recognize this and plan accordingly. Organizations should be made less leader-dependent, balances of power created, metrics and reward systems put in place that assume leaders act out of self-interest.