summary ofNine Lies About WorkBook by Marcus Buckingham, Ashley Goodall

first KEY POINT

Not everything we believe in is true

Getting the job that we’ve always dreamt about often leaves us disappointed. How come? This is what we were trained for and what we feel passionate about! The truth is that many of us have false expectations and a vague understanding of how the professional company world works.All businesses are profit-driven. Many of them have other, more “enlightened” goals, for sure, but revenues come first. To gain the maximum profit, companies aim for the ultimate efficiency of all business processes and employees’ performance. Psychologists, HRs, analysts, and other relevant specialists devised different assessment methods to see where this utmost efficiency is achieved. Whatever the method, they all have one significant drawback: evaluating everyone against the established norm does not explain why people work and make decisions this way.

In this summary, you will learn that assessments and observations are not always reliable talent appraisal methods. On top of that, competencies are not representative because they are based on the interplay of temporary (states) and permanent (traits) characteristics. Moreover, and it may come as a shock, you will understand why leadership is a word but not a thing, and if someone in charge doesn’t seem to be a leader, you don’t see them as such. These were just 3 lies put roughly. Read on to learn more!