Nine Lies About Work

Publisher's Summary

Your organization's culture is the key to its success. Strategic planning is essential. People's competencies should be measured and their weaknesses shored up. People crave feedback. 

These may sound like basic truths of our work lives today. But actually, they're lies. As Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall show in this provocative, inspiring book, there are some big lies - distortions, faulty assumptions, wrong thinking - running through our organizational lives. 

But there are those who can get past the lies and discover what's real. These are freethinking leaders who recognize the power and beauty of our individual uniqueness, who 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 matters most; that we need less focus 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.

©2019 One Thing Productions, Inc. and Ashley Goodall (P)2019 Gildan Media

Long overdue

Truly refreshing to listen to this work and have it echo so much that is our reality. I loved how in the book, they spoke of the blueprint for leadership and how it does not exist. Marcus and Ashley have done an amazing job brining their research to the masses.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Actually is mind-blowing. Highly recommend.

Everyone wants to write a book on leadership that says something new, true, and mind-blowing, but that's actually very hard to do in practice. Some can shock by saying things that are controversial for the sake of controversy, but those tend to have little applicability. Others try repackaging and recycling old ideas that have already been rehashed a million times. But this one really, really did make me think and make me question a huge number of foregone conclusions.

The reading style is also very good. I actually just saw Marcus Buckingham speak in Philadelphia yesterday, and decided to purchase the audiobook for my long drive home (despite the hardcover being a part of my attendance, meaning I now have this in all three formats, and still think it worth it). Less than 24 hours later, I finished this book, and I'm continuing to mentally digest this.

I get onto kicks for different types of books, and recently that has been an interest in leadership, as leadership training is part of what my department does. Everything in this book is immediately relevant to my day-to-day work. And this will undoubtedly change my frame of reference and everything else I read (or to which I listen), setting the bar to be surpassed for me to accept the conclusions and assumptions of those other books on leadership or management.

These two have written a very important book, and I'll be looking forward to reading much of their other work to come. Presentation style is also good, with alternating chapters read by each author (complete with British Charm Unit). As an American, I was still able to listen to most of it at 3X speed, because they articulate clearly and pace their reading consistently.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

The authors should not have narrated the book

An excellent and thought provoking book about work and leadership. However, the authors should not have narrated the book. The speech is often unclear, of varying volumes, and difficult to understand. The verbal inflection and pacing are not up to the standards of the best audible narrators.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Brilliant Work

I highly recommend the audible version so you can hear the authors share their brilliant work. The last chapter on leadership is especially poignant as Ashley recounts the leadership examples of ML King, including his last days in Memphis. Listening to this chapter is emotionally riveting and it will crystalize for you the reason people follow other people.

Well done Ashley & Marcus and thank you for sharing your unique strengths with the world!

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Loved it

This book is so thought-provoking and speaks so much truth about what employers and employees are facing in today's job economy. Its time that we start looking at teams and focusing on people, as people and this book helps highlight the reasons why!

Lookout HR!

Great book that challenges the status quo. HR departments everywhere are in a tough spot to respond to the thinking included.

Excellent

Really enjoyed this. Bursts so many long held beliefs. Great book for Senior Management and HR people

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Must Read for Any Leader

The ideas in this book are those that will save both companies and employees, and will set up a brighter future for all of us. I found myself cheering this book on as I read it. Great book.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful