Nine Lies About Work

Marcus Buckingham, a best-selling author known for his work on strengths, and Ashley Goodall, who heads leadership and team intelligence at Cisco, argue that nine common beliefs about work are false. Among them: that people crave feedback, that culture is the key to a company's success, that strategic planning is essential, that competencies should be measured and weaknesses fixed, and that leadership is a thing. In their place the authors argue that team strength matters more than company culture, that reliable real-time intelligence beats top-down planning, that aligning purpose and meaning beats aligning goals, and that people want helpful attention rather than constant feedback. They present these as truths that freethinking leaders recognize at once.

Adam Grant called it one of the most provocative and lucidly written books on work he has read, and Ali Abdaal named it among his 2021 favourites, recommending it to anyone leading a team.