Book review “Nine lies about work”

Boston (Massachusetts) | Some beliefs have found harmony as basic beliefs in the working world. Employees would need goals, want feedback, and want to make as many decisions as possible themselves. The two book authors Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall in their book “Nine lies about work” nourish doubts about some of these convictions. Buckingham is an avid director of the consulting firm ADP Research Institute, Goodall Senior Vice President Leadership and Team Intelligence at telecommunications giant Cisco. Her book, published by Harvard Business Review Press, also included data from her employers’ corporate archives, according to her own statement.

For example, the two criticize the assumption, based on compotence models, that the best employees come closest to an ideal profile. Because in reality no two people in the same position would come to their excellence in exactly the same way, but above all by playing off certain unique strengths and abilities. In spite of all authenticity, it is not necessary for people to constantly receive honest feedback, but rather to be encouraged to perform well by a positive form of attention.

The authors succeed in making an almost academic statement by saying that it is a misconception that people can evaluate other people, but that with every evaluation more can always be said about the evaluator than about the person being evaluated. Last but not least, there is also a lot of nonsense in leadership development, because the criteria for good leadership are rarely clearly defined in an organization.

Which increase in value offers the book with the sensational title “Nine lies about work” now for personnel developers? – It definitely encourages reflection. Can all apparent certainties actually exist in practice as such? No more and no less.

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