Nine Lies About Work

Undoubtedly my favourite book! The level of delusion (Marcus Buckingham calls them lies) is often overwhelming at organisations. And you know it, you feel it in your bones. You know that what you are told to believe is the truth doesn't feel right. But you go along with it because you THINK that everyone is on board with the message and you are the only one who isn't. You don't want to stand out, why would you? It goes against your instinct because, in the animal kingdom, standing out gets you killed. So you put your head down and become part of the collective delusion. It doesn't feel right, but at least it won't kill you.

But there are people who are brave enough and know that emergent patterns (only if collective delusion would allow them to emerge) are more valuable than received wisdom and that evidence is more powerful than dogma and indoctrination.

Based on research (private opinion vs group), Marcus Buckingham & Ashley Goodall released the book Nine Lies About Work, so let's see briefly what he has found that are sold to us to be the truth, but when looked at closely, it turned out to be a delusion or a lie.

Lie #1 People Care Which Company They Work For - Truth: People Care Which Team They're On

Lie #2 The Best Plan Wins - Truth: The Best Intelligence Wins

Lie #3 The Best Companies Cascade Goals - Truth: The Best Companies Cascade Meaning

Lie #4 The Best People Are Well-Rounded - Truth: The Best People Are Spiky

Lie #5 People Need Feedback - Truth: People Need Attention

Lie #6 People Can Reliably Rate Other People - Truth: People Can Reliably Rate Their Own Experience

Lie #7 People Have Potential - Truth: People Have Momentum

Lie #8 Work-Life Balance Matters The Most - Truth: Love-In-Work Matters The Most

Lie #9 Leadership Is A Thing - Truth: We Follow Spikes

I know some of you will go like this, "Feedback is so important. If you don't get it, you will miss out on development opportunities" (I just received this comment on one of my posts).

Before you make these comments think about this, people are different, and when they tell you that they cannot stand feedback or don't care about the company they work for, you don't need to convince people otherwise. Fight that urge to prove them wrong.

Instead, say, interesting, it works for me but tell me, why doesn't it work for you? And then, go ahead and have an intelligent conversation without trying to convince each other.

Remember, People Can Reliably Rate Their Experiences:-)

Go ahead and read the book even if you disagree with it because this is what it means to be open-minded. LISTEN.

https://www.amazon.com/Nine-Lies-about-Work-Freethinking/dp/B08XH2JM7

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