Love Nine Lies About Work? Readers share 93 books like Nine Lies About Work...

By Marcus Buckingham, Ashley Goodall,

Here are 93 books that Nine Lies About Work fans have personally recommended if you like Nine Lies About Work. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Elaine Lin Hering Author Of Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully

From my list on helping you realize youā€™re not the problem.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve finally realized that you canā€™t outwork yourself out of systemic problems and that so many of the messages we receive have got the problem wrong. Growing up, I was taught to respect my elders. To defer to those who know what they are talking about. But just because someone says something with conviction doesnā€™t mean they are right. What weā€™ve been told is imposter syndrome could actually be imposter treatment, and it messes deeply with our sense of self. So even if Iā€™ve taught at brand name institutions, at corporate heavyweights, and on six continents, Iā€™m always seeking to learn.

Elaine's book list on helping you realize youā€™re not the problem

Elaine Lin Hering Why did Elaine love this book?

This book opened my eyes to see introversion as a strength rather than a weakness. But more so, it gave me the permission to question how things that we took as ā€œjust the way things areā€ might have been positioned incorrectly from the start.

If it wasnā€™t true that introversion is inherently worse than extroversion, what else might popular culture and mainstream workplace practices have gotten wrong? I felt seen by the book and hopeful of what more honest conversations about how people are wired might both reveal and help heal. 

By Susan Cain,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked Quiet as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SUSAN CAIN'S NEW BOOK, BITTERSWEET, IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW

A SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, THIS BOOK WILL CHANGE HOW YOU SEE INTROVERTS - AND YOURSELF - FOREVER.

Our lives are driven by a fact that most of us can't name and don't understand. It defines who our friends and lovers are, which careers we choose, and whether we blush when we're embarrassed.

That fact is whether we're an introvert or an extrovert.

The most fundamental dimension of personality, at least a third of us are introverts, and yet shyness, sensitivity and seriousness are often seen asā€¦


Book cover of Regenerative Leadership: The DNA of life-affirming 21st century organizations

Ingrid Biese Author Of Men Do It Too: Opting Out and In

From my list on to change working life as we know it.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 2009, I opted out of a career in consulting to pursue a PhD in Sociology and to research women who opt out of successful careers to live and work on their own terms. I was convinced that it wasnā€™t a womenā€™s issue but a contemporary one and I later went on to research men opting out. As I collect stories of people who opt out and in, it becomes clear that opting out is a symptom of contemporary organizational cultures and the way we are expected to work. Iā€™m on a mission to change working life as we know it and these books have been enormously helpful to me. 

Ingrid's book list on to change working life as we know it

Ingrid Biese Why did Ingrid love this book?

I was impressed by this book because it so clearly explains why the way we think about business, work, and organizations has to change and it shows us how everything is connected.

The system we have known for as long as we can remember is no longer working. On the contrary, itā€™s harming us, our health, our wellbeing, our planet, and our future. Only by rethinking the way we lead and organize can we secure a future for ourselves and our planet.

The book is visually beautiful, it is life-affirming and full of examples of organizations that are already doing things differently, and it also works as a handbook for becoming a regenerative leader. 

By Giles Hutchins, Laura Storm,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Regenerative Leadership as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book by leadership and sustainability experts Giles Hutchins and Laura Storm provides an exciting and comprehensive framework for building regenerative life-affirming businesses. It offers a multitude of business cases, fascinating examples from natureā€™s living systems, insights from the front-line pioneers and tools and techniques for leaders to succeed and thrive in the 21st century.

Regenerative Leadership draws inspiration from pioneering thinking within biomimicry, circular economy, adult developmental psychology, anthropology, biophilia, sociology, complexity theory and next-stage leadership development. It connects the dots between these fields through a powerful framework that enables leadership to become regenerative: in harmony with life, buildingā€¦


Book cover of Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power that Elevates People and Organizations

Ingrid Biese Author Of Men Do It Too: Opting Out and In

From my list on to change working life as we know it.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 2009, I opted out of a career in consulting to pursue a PhD in Sociology and to research women who opt out of successful careers to live and work on their own terms. I was convinced that it wasnā€™t a womenā€™s issue but a contemporary one and I later went on to research men opting out. As I collect stories of people who opt out and in, it becomes clear that opting out is a symptom of contemporary organizational cultures and the way we are expected to work. Iā€™m on a mission to change working life as we know it and these books have been enormously helpful to me. 

Ingrid's book list on to change working life as we know it

Ingrid Biese Why did Ingrid love this book?

You know how people say ā€˜itā€™s business, itā€™s not personalā€™? Well thatā€™s just wrong, business is personal because itā€™s made up of people ā€“ people with lives, families, hopes, fears, and dreams.

The authors argue that one of the main problems with our workplaces is that there isnā€™t enough compassion at work. Workplaces rob their employees of humanity and motivation, which has a negative effect on employee wellbeing, but also organizational potential. I have seen this in my own research and I have to say I couldnā€™t agree more.

The authors do a great job showing us that compassion isnā€™t a so-called ā€˜softā€™ value, but a hard-core business strategy. The bookā€™s strength is that it also works as a handbook for organizations to become more compassionate and caring. 

By Monica C. Worline, Jane E. Dutton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Awakening Compassion at Work as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Caring Is a Competitive Advantage

Suffering in the workplace can rob our colleagues and coworkers of humanity, dignity, and motivation and is an unrecognized and costly drain on organizational potential. Marshaling evidence from two decades of field research, scholars and consultants Monica Worline and Jane Dutton show that alleviating such suffering confers measurable competitive advantages in areas like innovation, collaboration, service quality, and talent attraction and retention. They outline four steps for meeting suffering with compassion and show how to build a capacity for compassion into the structures and practices of an organizationā€”because ultimately, as they write, ā€œCompassion is anā€¦


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Book cover of The Managing People Practice Manual

The Managing People Practice Manual by Neil Thompson,

This manual addresses the need to ensure that people are at the centre of the organisation. There has never been a timelier reminder of the need to ensure that leading, supporting and developing staff are critical aspects of creating the right organisational culture to grow and develop. Written with sensitivity,ā€¦

Book cover of Dying for a Paycheck: How Modern Management Harms Employee Health and Company Performanceā€•and What We Can Do About It

Peter Cappelli Author Of Our Least Important Asset: Why the Relentless Focus on Finance and Accounting is Bad for Business and Employees

From my list on hate your job and dread job hunting.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been researching the changes in the workplace for 40 years now. The steady move over that time has been away from a situation where employers controlled the development of their ā€œtalentā€ and managed it carefully, especially for white-collar workers, toward arrangements that are much more arms-length where employees are on their own to develop their skills and manage their career. Most employees now see at least some management practices that just donā€™t make sense even for their own employerā€“casual approaches to hiring, using ā€œleased employeesā€ and contractors, who are paid more, to do the same work as employees, leaving vacancies open, and so forth.

Peter's book list on hate your job and dread job hunting

Peter Cappelli Why did Peter love this book?

Most of the discussion about whether jobs are good or bad focuses on wages. The sociologists add the concern about uncertaintyā€“will my job last?

What gets far less attention is the fact that the way we manage employees has a direct and profound effect on their mental health and, in turn, on their physical health.

This is a new finding and an important one. We can see a direct effect of bad management practices on employee sickness and death. As documented here, stress kills.

By Jeffrey Pfeffer,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Dying for a Paycheck as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In one survey, 61 percent of employees said that workplace stress had made them sick and 7 percent said they had actually been hospitalized. Job stress costs US employers more than $300 billion annually and may cause 120,000 excess deaths each year. In China, 1 million people a year may be dying from overwork.  People are literally dying for a paycheck. And it needs to stop.

In this timely, provocative book, Jeffrey Pfeffer contends that many modern management commonalities such as long work hours, work-family conflict, and economic insecurity are toxic to employeesā€”hurting engagement, increasing turnover, and destroying peopleā€™s physicalā€¦


Book cover of Karaoke Capitalism: Daring to Be Different in a Copycat World

Ian Pagdin and Michelle Hardy Author Of Investment and Portfolio Management: A Practical Introduction

From my list on making finance interesting and engaging (especially if youā€™re not an academic).

Why am I passionate about this?

We first met about 10 years ago at Sheffield Hallam University, bonding as work colleagues over a love of enabling students to understand wealth management and finance in a way that we hoped they would find interesting and accessible. The books we chose mix our love of storytelling and making finance accessible by using real-world experiences. They do this in a unique way, challenging the reader to think about their understanding and perspective, something we try to do every day. It has been lovely to reread these books before writing the reviews, reminding us of what makes us tick. We hope they help you to find your tick too. 

Ian and Michelle's book list on making finance interesting and engaging (especially if youā€™re not an academic)

Ian Pagdin and Michelle Hardy Why did Ian and Michelle love this book?

I was given a free copy of this book at a conference and only read it as I had nothing else to read at that point. But, for the time, its method of communicating ideas and concepts was revolutionary and this, as well as the contents of the book, have stayed with me.

I hadnā€™t read it for a while, but on re-reading it to write this review, I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. Once again, I am drawn to the emphasis on the individual and their ability to be creative, adaptable, and innovative. These concepts seem, in my eyes, to be lost in finance education but are fundamental to a strong real-world financial system that avoids the effects of the groupthink seen in the 2008 financial crash.

By Jonas Ridderstroale, Kjell A. Nordstrom,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Karaoke Capitalism as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

We all know that the rules by which business is conducted have changed. But by how much? The dot.commers who threw out the playbook and tried to reinvent everything crashed and burned. Back-to-basics and execution are refrains reverberating down corporate hallways. And yet there is still a sense of unease. Jonas Ridderstroale and Kjell Nordstrom, the outspoken authors of the international bestseller, Funky Business, present a provocative analysis of the social and cultural forces that are defining the business landscape-in particular, the fundamental relationships between employers and employees and between companies and customers.

Covering a huge terrain-from the impact ofā€¦


Book cover of Competing in the New World of Work: How Radical Adaptability Separates the Best from the Rest

Nick Sonnenberg Author Of Come Up for Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work

From my list on growing your business without all the headaches.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve always been obsessed with efficiency. Before becoming an entrepreneur, I spent eight years working on Wall Street as a high-frequency trader where I traded billions of dollars in stocks at microsecond speeds. That job showed me the true value of efficiency, which I embraced with my own company, Leverageā€”an operational efficiency consulting firm that has helped thousands of organizations improve the way they work. My book, Come Up for Air is the culmination of everything Iā€™ve learned and the books in this list have played a huge part in my business education along the way. Iā€™m also a columnist for inc.com and guest lecturer at Columbia University.

Nick's book list on growing your business without all the headaches

Nick Sonnenberg Why did Nick love this book?

This book really struck a chord with me.

Ferrazzi's insights on workplace innovation during the pandemic have helped me reshape my company's practices to remain competitive in a constantly evolving business landscape.

What I appreciated most about this book is that it's based on research from real-life executives, innovators, and changemakers who redefined their strategies and business models to stay ahead of the curve.

By Keith Ferrazzi, Kian Gohar, Noel Weyrich

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Competing in the New World of Work as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Wall Street Journal bestseller

The #1 New York Times bestselling author on how to use radical adaptability to win in a world of unprecedented change.

You've shed antiquated systems and processes. You went all-in on digital. Your teams settled into new, often better, ways of doing things. But did your organization change enough to stay competitive in the post-pandemic world? Did you fully leverage the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leap forward and grow stronger? Are you shaping the new environment to your advantage?

If not, it's not too late to learn from the best.

New York Times #1 bestselling authorā€¦


Book cover of Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

Nicolas A. Valcik Author Of Strategic Planning and Decision-Making for Public and Non-Profit Organizations

From my list on showing leadership through someone's own story.

Why am I passionate about this?

Leadership is always the key to success in strategic planning for any organization. Great leaders can drive their organizations to success, while poor leadership can crater the organization and take generations for it to rebuild. A good leader is essential in the aspect of providing good morale for the employees of the organization. Good leadership factors cause the organization to be seen as cutting edge and as an organization that others want to go work for in an effort to be better themselves. An organization with a superior strategic planning process, will have great leaders and employees to not only formulate the plan, but also execute the plan successfully.  

Nicolas' book list on showing leadership through someone's own story

Nicolas A. Valcik Why did Nicolas love this book?

This book is great for leaders who are coming into a new situation, or are currently in an evolving work environment. Any environment is going to have change, and leaders have to recognize and adapt when change occurs.

To be successful, a leader needs to ensure that the operations of their area can adapt and deliver to their clients. William Bridges' book is geared to assist managers and leaders with those changes and assists them with the key issues to be mindful of during a transition. This book is one that every manager and leader should have on their bookshelf.

By William Bridges, Susan Bridges,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Managing Transitions as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The business world is constantly transforming. When restructures, mergers, bankruptcies, and layoffs hit the workplace, employees and managers naturally find the resulting situational shifts to be challenging. But the psychological transitions that accompany them are even more stressful. Organizational transitions affect people it is always people, rather than a company, who have to embrace a new situation and carry out the corresponding change.As veteran business consultant William Bridges explains, transition is successful when employees have a purpose, a plan, and a part to play. This indispensable guide is now updated to reflect the challenges of today's ever-changing, always-on, and globallyā€¦


Book cover of The First-Time Manager

Paul Falcone Author Of 101 Tough Conversations to Have with Employees: A Manager's Guide to Addressing Performance, Conduct, and Discipline Challenges

From my list on help manage your business over the next 5 years.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m passionate about workplace leadership, both as a writer and former human resources executive. I spent three decades in corporate HR roles. At the same time, I wrote 17 books on effective people leadership practices and published hundreds of articles as a columnist for SHRMā€”the Society for Human Resource Management. Iā€™ve taught in UCLA Extensionā€™s School of Business and Management for years, trained for the American Management Association, and served as a keynote speaker at many conferences. I find leadership and management fascinatingā€”hiring, motivation, professional development, accountability, innovation, and even termination. Building people's muscle while protecting companies from unwanted legal liability has been my passion throughout my career. 

Paul's book list on help manage your business over the next 5 years

Paul Falcone Why did Paul love this book?

This was the best book Iā€™ve read for new managers because of its broad coverage of key areas of responsibility and its practical application and wisdom for newly minted leaders to build their self-confidence and transition effectively into their new roles and responsibilities.

New managers are the base of the leadership pyramidā€”the foundational structure of what makes businesses work. They set the tone, serve as role models, and literally create each organizationā€™s unique culture. And they need trainingā€”lots of itā€”to master their craft and forge strong relationships (sometimes with people who, until recently, were their peers).

This book gets them off on the right foot and helps them build critical muscle around effective leadership principles, legal awareness, self-care, emotional intelligence, remote team management, and so much more. 

By Jim McCormick,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The First-Time Manager as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

MORE THAN 500,000 COPIES SOLD!

The trusted management classic and go-to guide for anyone facing new responsibilities as a first-time manager.

Learn to conquer every challenge like a seasoned pro with the clear, candid advice in The First-Time Manager. For nearly four decades, this expert guide has brought newcomers up to speed on the realities of managing people.

The updated seventh edition delivers new information that helps you manage across generations, use online performance appraisal tools, persuade with stories, oversee remote employees, build a team dynamic, match a boss's style, and more.

The jump from star employee to new managerā€¦


Book cover of Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want

Bartley J. Madden Author Of Value Creation Principles: The Pragmatic Theory of the Firm Begins with Purpose and Ends with Sustainable Capitalism

From my list on knowledge building and value creation.

Why am I passionate about this?

My intellectual journey has focused on three related passions: understanding how firms create value and the link to their stock market valuations, systems thinking, and knowledge building. This has led to the Madden Center for Value Creation at Florida Atlantic University that promotes the key value creation principles that are the foundation for a prosperous society. Prosperity is more widely shared through a society rooted in dynamism with enthusiastic support for experimentation, knowledge building, and innovation by firms. The Madden Center offers a Certificate in Value Creation online course that packages a learning experience to upgrade the knowledge, skills, and resources you need to create value. 

Bartley's book list on knowledge building and value creation

Bartley J. Madden Why did Bartley love this book?

For almost six decades, I have studied the histories of firms and their successes and failures in creating value. I am always looking for heavy hitters who write about their thinking/doing process. Curt Carlson qualifies.

When he was CEO of SRI International, he guided the conception and development of HDTV, Siri, the computer mouse, electronic banking, robotic surgery which evolved into Intuitive Surgical (the dominant robotics surgical firm with its Da Vinci system), and much more.

I first found Carlson via a Harvard Business Review article in which he laid out his proven steps for value creation that seem so straightforward, yet are rarely followed. I wanted a more comprehensive discussion, and I got it with this book.    

By Curtis R. Carlson, William W. Wilmot,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Innovation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Nothing is more important to business success than innovation . . . And hereā€™s what you can do about it on Monday morning with the definitive how-to book from the worldā€™s leading authority on innovation

When it comes to innovation, Curt Carlson and Bill Wilmot of SRI International know what they are talking aboutā€”literally. SRI has pioneered innovations that day in and day out are part of the fabric of your life, such as:

ā€¢The computer mouse and the personal computer interface you use at home and work

ā€¢The high-definition television in your living room

ā€¢The unusual numbers at theā€¦


Book cover of The Founder's Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth

Martin Gonzalez Author Of The Bonfire Moment: Bring Your Team Together to Solve the Hardest Problems Startups Face

From my list on solve people problems in your startup.

Why am I passionate about this?

I learned about leadership and building organizations in a volunteer, community-based organization growing up. I ran my first leadership workshop as an 18-year-old for 15-16-year-old kids, and at its peak, led a passionate group of 200+ kids. I then woke up from that dream into a ā€œreal jobā€ as a product manager in a company selling products like bath soap and shampoo, and later as a strategy consultant. It was there that I noticed the significant pain people were experiencing in the corporate world, and I realized I could help leaders build organizations where both the business and its people could thrive. 

Martin's book list on solve people problems in your startup

Martin Gonzalez Why did Martin love this book?

I generally donā€™t like reading books by management consultants, being a former one myself, but this book stands out. The authors take a life-cycle view of companies, showing how the early stages, dominated by the mavericks who started the company, eventually give way to bureaucracy, creating a significant distance between the boardroom and its users.

They start the book with a central thesis, which I think is invaluable for any leader: growth creates complexity, and complexity is the silent killer of growth. This is another book I wish I had written.

By Chris Zook, James Allen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Founder's Mentality as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Washington Post Bestseller Three Principles for Managing--and Avoiding--the Problems of Growth Why is profitable growth so hard to achieve and sustain? Most executives manage their companies as if the solution to that problem lies in the external environment: find an attractive market, formulate the right strategy, win new customers. But when Bain & Company's Chris Zook and James Allen, authors of the bestselling Profit from the Core, researched this question, they found that when companies fail to achieve their growth targets, 90 percent of the time the root causes are internal, not external--increasing distance from the front lines, lossā€¦


Book cover of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Book cover of Regenerative Leadership: The DNA of life-affirming 21st century organizations
Book cover of Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power that Elevates People and Organizations

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