Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time

by Jeffrey Pfeffer

Finalist for the 2015  Financial Times  and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Best business book of the week from Inc.com The author of Power, Stanford business school professor, and a leading management thinker offers a hard-hitting dissection of the leadership industry and ways to make workplaces and careers work better. The leadership enterprise is enormous, with billions of dollars, thousands of books, and hundreds of thousands of blogs and talks focused on improving leaders. But what we see worldwide is employee disengagement, high levels of leader turnover and career derailment, and failed leadership development efforts. In Leadership BS , Jeffrey Pfeffer shines a bright light on the leadership industry, showing why it’s failing and how it might be remade. He sets the record straight on the oft-made prescriptions for leaders to be honest, authentic, and modest, tell the truth, build trust, and take care of others. By calling BS on so many of the stories and myths of leadership, he gives people a more scientific look at the evidence and better information to guide their careers. Rooted in social science, and will practical examples and advice for improving management, Leadership BS encourages readers to accept the truth and then use facts to change themselves and the world for the better.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Management, Psychology, Self Help, Buisness

260 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 2015

About the author

Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University where he has taught since 1979. He is the author or co-author of thirteen books including The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First; Managing with Power; The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action; Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People; Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management; and What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management, as well as more than 150 articles and book chapters. Pfeffer’s latest book, entitled Power: Why Some People Have It—And Others Don’t was published in 2010 by Harper Business.

Dr. Pfeffer received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and his Ph.D. from Stanford. He began his career at the business school at the University of Illinois and then taught at the University of California, Berkeley. Pfeffer has been a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School, Singapore Management University, London Business School, Copenhagen Business School, and for the past 8 years a visitor at IESE in Barcelona.

From 2003-2007, Pfeffer wrote a monthly column, “The Human Factor,” for the 600,000-person circulation business magazine, Business 2.0 and from 2007-2010, he wrote a monthly column providing career advice for Capital, a leading business and economics magazine in Turkey. Pfeffer also was a regular blogger for the Corner Office section of BNET (CBS Interactive), and currently writes for the Harvard Business Review website, Bloomberg Business Week online, Inc., and for the “On Leadership” section of The Washington Post. Pfeffer has appeared in segments on CBS Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, and CNBC as well as television and radio programs in Korea and Japan and has been quoted and featured in news articles from countries around the globe.

Pfeffer currently serves on the board of directors of the nonprofit Quantum Leap Healthcare. In the past he has served on the boards of Resumix, Unicru, and Workstream, all human capital software companies, Audible Magic, an internet company, SonoSite, a company designing and manufacturing portable ultrasound machines, and the San Francisco Playhouse, a non-profit theater. Pfeffer has presented seminars in 38 countries throughout the world as well as doing consulting and providing executive education for numerous companies, associations, and universities in the United States.

Jeffrey Pfeffer has won the Richard I. Irwin Award presented by the Academy of Management for scholarly contributions to management and numerous awards for his articles and books. He is listed in the top 25 management thinkers by Thinkers 50, and as one of the Most Influential HR International Thinkers by HR Magazine. In November, 2011, he was presented with an honorary doctorate degree from Tilburg University in The Netherlands.

Reviews

[Scott Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title says it all, really. The book is mostly just Pfeffer throwing rocks at the "Leadership Industry" of which he is a part (he teaches in Stanford's MBA program). There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, and I don’t even disagree with most of his assertions, but he states things in such absolutes that it’s difficult to see how he’s different than his colleagues that he’s blasting.

For example, Pfeffer rails against the idea of “Inspiration & Fables” in the leadership industry. I take his point – inspiration is not much help if it doesn’t move you to long-term action or if that action is not helpful. But Pfeffer would have us believing that the majority (if not all) of the leadership industry provides nothing more than pep talks. I haven’t found this to be true. In fact, there is an abundance of research-based information available to anyone who is willing to look for it. Perhaps Pfeffer would have served his readers better by offering a “read this, not that” list.

So, my recommendation for consuming this book is the same recommendation for consuming any non-fiction work. Read it, consider the content & consider the source(s) of the content. Ask, “So what?” to determine what it may mean in your life. Finally, ask, “Now what?” to determine what, if any, action you’ll take based on what you’ve learned.

[Allys Dierker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good exploration of why leadership self-help is, in fact, bullshit. No barriers to entry in leadership industry, no credentials necessary or readily required, vague terms, little evidence, lots of inspiration that doesn’t mesh with reality. His final chapter offers some prescriptions for “how to face the reality of organizational life”—all advice that realists know if they’ve ever dealt with disappointing people or situations, but hard if you really want to believe the best. Incidentally, Pfeffer convincingly argues throughout the book WHY you might want to believe the best, but that that’s likely not to work in your favor.

He seems to be much less cynical about medicine and medicine education than about the “leadership industry,” which is where I think he could afford to be MORE cynical: I think he accepts that there is a prevalence of “evidence-based” decision making in medicine when really, not so much. And medicine is subject to the same turf wars and narcissism as other industries: it just happens to enjoy a better reputation, probably because you can’t afford to criticize or second-guess or anger someone with access to a prescription pad or operating theater when you need a prescription or operation. One doesn’t need to search hard to find the same unflattering, difficult, sometimes mean and abusive characteristics in medicine as one finds in well remunerated and lionized “leaders.”

I have to sort through some seemingly incommensurate ideas: narcissists are more successful as leaders, but being authentic (true to yourself) isn’t the best way to get ahead—how does narcissism (all about yourself) succeed where authenticity (“true” to yourself) doesn’t. This may be an issue of deception: a narcissist can deceive others about his “true” nature when that deception serves his own best interests.

And Pfeffer’s first chapter cites detailed careers of leaders as evidence that “leadership industry” advice is very poor, but his final chapter cites multiple examples of long-term careers of crappy, abusive ineffective leaders.

I appreciate his skewering of the idea that education and work should be “inspirational,” but that’s a tough charge to combat when you are expected to be the “inspirational” and accommodating buffer functioning in a middle space.

Pfeffer’s best prescription of all: take care of yourself first.

[Eric Levy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book! Would give it 10 stars if I could. Of course I'd expect nothing less from Pfeffer. In the spirit of some of his prior books (e.g., Knowing-Doing Gap, Half Truths and Utter Nonsense), Pfeffer uses the academic management /psychology/ social science literature to debunk many common myths about the world of management. In Leadership BS, he takes on the "feel good" leadership industry for prescribing a "feel good" approach to how leaders should act, rather than taking a hard look at how leaders actually act, and how leaders can be effective. This incongruency is the basis for so many people's frustrations with organizations and their leaders, particularly in their willfully ignoring the self-interested (as opposed to altruistic) motives of leaders. Pfeffer convincingly argues that unless people are willing to see things how they are, rather than some idealistic fantasy, there is little to no chance of leadership within organizations ever actually improving.

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong critique of the leadership development industry. "Keeping it real" conversation. Best read in tandem with Power: Why Some People Have it and Others Don't.

Picked up the book since I recognised the author from my business school days. His Managing With Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations was one of my core textbooks.

Good read!

A kindred spirit to Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. They cover different ground... but close in ethos.

[Eli Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this non-inspiring, real-politic survey of leadership. Particularly the attention paid to game-theory based analysis of incentives of leaders in various organizations. I found the book's approach of singling out exceptional companies, yet also illustrating consequences of assuming all organizations are exceptional - particularly easy to read and grasp. The world is filled with some amazing companies and leaders, yet most amazing leadership stories are written after-the-fact and omit any negative characteristics of the leader. This book dives deep into the flaws, making no assumption that leaders are virtuous, but rather down-to-earth people driven by ambition, greed and self realization

[Matthias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this if you want to have a perfect antidote to the common leadership literature/industry. Don't read this if you are looking for advice on how to develop great leaders. Sometimes a little bit too anecdotal and less evidence-based then I would have expected/liked, but thought provoking nonetheless

[Andrzej · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a BS book and honestly, it's downright harmful. Promoting ideas, that a good leader has to be lying, untrustworthy narcissist is for me mind-boggling and really not understanding how organizations work. It looks like the author is cherry-picking papers and results of them without taking into account the background, context, and methodologies. I suggest avoiding this piece.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book. Pfeffer, in the process of debunking "feel good" theories of what makes a good leader, sees the business world as it is, and the way it is is often nasty real-politik. Best to be clear-eyed about it. Pfeffer likes virtue but recognizes it does not prevail a good part of the time. I'm not sure what the percentage is but close to 50% of the time it doesn't. Be clear-eyed and realistic, he says. And even though you will be disappointed at the venality of lots of practices in the business world a better strategy is to see them clearly, and that means giving up illusions, always a good strategy. You'll be looking out for yourself and become a stronger person and a better leader (boss) if that is what you are called on to do, in the process. And probably richer, too.

[Christian S · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author mostly laments state and methods of today’s "leadership advice" industry. Don't waste your time if you have seen a university from the inside. Yes most US books on any popular issue are not worth reading as they are totally unscientific and sometimes outright fantastical - management books even more so - and yes there may be a feelgood and profit motive - duh. I don't need to have 20% of this book to tell me so in a seemingly endless-looping anecdotal and metaphorical rant. The author then kind of goes into some sub-themes (honesty etc) - in some of which I feel he gains some real mileage (that's the stuff that most likely is coming out of his "Power" book - which I will read) and some is just him engaging in "definitionism"/beating down strawmen. I especially dislike the highly questionable approach of quoting “employee surveys” (yes many people don’t like their job and or dislike their boss - for many people work is a necessity not a choice) and corporate scandals as proof of the state of current leadership- I mean seriously - this is exactly NOT what's meant by hard science! So in consequence neither is he helping to define any of the complex concept of leadership/people management or at least show way how to improve it one way or the other. The last chapter was the grand finale where - again powered by pure anecdotal evidence (much decried in the early part of the book) how mega successful leaders (Job, Bezos etc) are total di**s at work but nevertheless really hit the ball out of the park in success terms - and based on this how you are supposed to watch out more for yourself and adapt Machiavelli style to your dysfunctional workplace. If any of this was true (which we have no clue as its just bla bla tales) shouldn’t you instead ask yourself why mega category killers like Amazon and Apple HAVE such leaders - maybe it's what’s needed after all - but wait didn't the book earlier say that the military is so strong because officers “eat last” (ie are modest - not like nasty Bill Gates)? Well - this book will leave you just where you started - confused - now I am ACHING to read a proper book on the issue. My rant over now )

[Amanda Alexandre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book can ruin most of self-serving, uplifting leadership advices. The author begins by showcasing that the current leadership "industry", how he calls all media produced around the topic, with numbers displaying everything we know: workplaces suck, and leaders suck harder.

The author berates our emotional approach to understanding leadership according to anecdotes and its uselessness. That's when the book lost me a little. Don't get me wrong, I am all for data over anecdotes, but the way he simplifies all advices as emotional and uplifting, proactively ignores all the advice that is given based in research. Or even some motherfucker matter-of-factly advices, like Peter Drucker or Sheryl Sandberg. I dare you to read "The effective manager" and call it romantic. Sandberg's Lean In was so matter-of-fact (and surprisingly gender neutral) that some people just couldn't handle it. (In fact, the author itself gives points that prove her right in his book.)

And if you take a shot at every time he writes "inspirational TED talk", you've got your night worked out for you.

But, despite all of this, I can't express how eye opening this can be. I wish I could've​ read it in college. After experiencing all the hateous politicking in biz world, I began to ponder if some of my failures were not just mine after all. Everyone says this book is painful, whose reality dose really is, but for me it was strangely comforting. As a Business graduate, I have to come to terms with the fact that we are failing to provide good workplaces for people.

[Nat Fassler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A jaded, critical look at the leadership industry, poking holes in all the standard advice that has no grounding in social science and reality. While this book takes a purely capitalist, Ayn Randian approach to success (self interest is in the best interest of humanity), I appreciate the take down of all the leadership literature that seeks to inspire but doesn’t actually inform readers about the real state of the business world.

Reading this left me a bit depressed about what it takes to be successful in business, but I’d rather be informed and depressed than inspired and naive. There is an all-too-brief exploration of the structural changes to organizations that might actually fix some of the issues mentioned in this book.

Definitely a worthwhile read.

[Sabah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is not “The Power” but a good amount of useful information and a good reminder about the sobering reality of current workplaces and “leaders” that run them. Definitely worth the time it take to read it.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Candid look at critical management studies. Despite the bleak conclusion that the flaws of leaders and leadership development are systematic and need to be broken and remade, we need more books like this!

[Bukky Adebayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is quite provocative. It took me a few chapters to appreciated Pfeffer's writing style and the point he hopes to make with this book. At first, his precise definitions of the failing of today’s leaders and the leadership training industry sounds as though he’s advocating for dishonesty narcissism and inauthenticity. But I think his intention was more to say thing transparently so we can think of a strategy that works. Though he doesn't really define a strategy, he does offer some helpful hints like measuring and incentives along with making sure that you get honest feedback from folks who aren't as powerful as you.

[Lauren Goodwillie]

read it for class. lol it was fine

[Lisa Vandepol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this because I enjoy the person that read the audiobook, Mike Chamberlain.

I liked the style and different perspective from the leadership coaching community.

[Farrah L Cossairt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Um…I call it bashing CEO or anyone in leadership role.

[Archit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a blend of Leadership and Psychology, which is an enticing combo. But, it's also a tool which the author wields to hammer the feel-good beliefs which we harbour about leaders (i.e. leaders are kind, authentic, humble people who will “eat last” and save you when you are in the depths of despair)

As evident from the title, Pfeffer has ranted on endlessly till the last chapter of the book. Although in the end, he has not given any conclusive solution (in the end he has merely mentioned that the world is not black and white), it serves as a reminder as to why (all) leaders are not the paragons of virtue.

Summary:
1. This book is a prequel to “Power”
2. Want to be a leadership coach? You can
go to an institute or enroll in one of many programs, of
varying quality and rigor, that train coaches with varying
degrees of skill, but you don’t have to even do that. You can be
a coach tomorrow.
3. Leaders fail their people, their organizations, the larger society, and even themselves with
unacceptable frequency. Every day, in the news, are more stories of leaders failing

4. Rant against transformational leadership (aka charismatic leadership)
5. The feel good stories about leadership look good because we get “motivated”


6. Moreover, for the leaders who talk or write or blog about their leadership experience, the
problem becomes even more pernicious. In telling their stories, leaders create and re-create their
own reality so often that soon it becomes almost impossible for them to distinguish the actual truth
from what they recall as being true, even if they wanted to do so.
7. Five attributes of a “leader” – modesty, authenticity, truthfulness, trustworthiness, concern for well-being of others
8. Modesty

Moreover, people are unlikely to work as hard for “your” project or “the boss’s project” as they
are for “our” project or, even better, for their “own” project. This fact derives from at least two
psychological processes. One process is sometimes referred to as implicit egotism. This idea refers
to the principle that we like things that remind us of or are identified with ourselves. Implicit
egotism is premised on the idea that because we like ourselves, we like things that remind us of or
are associated with the self. In turn, projects will induce greater effort to the extent that they
become identified with the individuals working on them.
The second principle that suggests that people will prefer that which they feel ownership of is
the endowment effect. This phenomenon describes how and why we more highly value what we
have simply because it is ours.


What about Women and Minorities?
The fact that women and other ethnic minorities, such as Asian Americans, are on average more
modest and self-effacing and less narcissistic than typical white males, in part because of gender
role and cultural expectations, may help explain their worse career outcomes

Asians admit that their culture inculcates them with different communication and
networking styles, as well as a pronounced emphasis on performance and technical
competency… . Asian professionals are frequently held back from senior positions by the
perception that they don’t have “executive presence,” a factor that similarly operates against
other minority groups in the workplace, including women
Second, narcissism and self-aggrandizement and the behaviors associated with these constructs
reliably and consistently predict the selection of leaders, the evaluations made after interviews, and
the selection of emergent leadership. And third, narcissistic CEOs seem to earn more compared with
others in the top management team, and last longer in their jobs—probably because they are more
ready and willing to eliminate their rivals. Furthermore, narcissistic individuals are often superior
performers in at least some dimensions; they are great at selling their ideas and vision, effective in
attracting the support of others (particularly outside others), good at getting attention and its
attendant benefits, and often effective at getting things done. The many benefits of immodesty help
explain why modest CEOs are so rare, the leadership industry’s blandishments notwithstanding.


9. Authenticity

The idea of authentic leadership epitomizes almost everything
that I believe characterizes the leadership industry generally,
much of which does not help either science or practice: (1) a
well-intentioned, values-laden (2) set of prescriptions—lots of
“shoulds” and “oughts”—(3) that are mostly not representative of
most people in leadership roles, and (4) are recommendations that
are almost certainly not implementable and may be
fundamentally misguided.

Moreover, as Gary Loveman has stated, there comes a time in
your career, as you move up, when critical relationships simply
have to work. When you are in school, if you don’t like a
particular classmate, that is fine. Don’t hang out with that person;
don’t even talk to the individual if you don’t want to. But if you
are both senior executives in an organization in a relationship that
inevitably entails a high degree of interdependence, you cannot
afford to not “like” the other person. Moreover, your personal feelings are largely irrelevant to your need to make the
relationship successful.
.

Here’s another problem with the prescription to be your
authentic self: People change and grow all the time as a result of
their work experiences. No one is born a doctor, lawyer, nurse,
professional golfer, carpenter, or, for that matter, as a creature that
walks and talks. We learn not only skills, but also the values and
the culture that surround our particular jobs and organizations.
We become what we do, in terms of not just skills but also
preferences and values. One of the more robust findings in social
psychology is that attitudes follow behaviors.13 After you have
been a doctor, or a tax accountant, or a professor for long enough,
you probably come to like what you have to do every day, and in
many respects you also become the role you have been doing.

10. Truthfulness

Many of those ubiquitous sources of leadership advice also advocate candor, honesty, and
transparency.4 The logic seems sensible, even unassailable. Leaders should be candid and open,
because if leaders lie, then subordinates, the leaders’ own bosses, and the leaders’ peers presumably
won’t trust what the leaders say, and trust is important to effective leadership (a theme we will
explore further in the next chapter). Moreover, if leaders lie, others around them will do the same as
they model the leader’s behavior. If few people in a workplace tell the truth, then almost no one will
have accurate information about what is really going on. And valid information about what is
happening and the results of decisions is essential to both learn from experience and to make more
effective choices. And if leaders lie, they will have committed a sin, reflecting negatively on
themselves and undermining their authority and credibility. Research shows that “people view
duplicity as one of the gravest moral failings.”5

No one was better at the task of creating the perception of success and coolness than Steve Jobs.
In the early 1980s, Apple Computer (as it was known then) faced an existential threat. After the
Apple II’s introduction, IBM had launched its own personal computer, and many people felt that
IBM would crush Apple. Then came the Lisa, Apple’s next product, which was not a very good—or
successful—product. So when Apple was to introduce the Macintosh in 1984, people would need to
be convinced that the product would be successful, so they would buy it, and developers of software
needed to be convinced that Apple would sell enough computers and survive long enough to make it
sensible for them to develop the software that would make the computer useful—and thereby help
ensure its sales. The Macintosh was introduced to a packed auditorium with much fanfare and the
famous “1984” advertisement, which ran only once on television, during the Super Bowl. Almost all
industry observers and analysts were captivated, and the Macintosh was a success. Jobs’s ability,
honed and implemented over decades, to continually and convincingly make the case that Apple
was the coolest company with the neatest products to all of the various company constituents
ensured Apple’s success.

Lincoln lied about whether he was negotiating with the South to end the war. . . . He also
lied about where he stood on slavery. He told the American public and political allies that he
didn’t believe in political equality for slaves because he didn’t want to get too far ahead of
public opinion


11. Trustworthiness

Bill gates and Gary Kildall story

12. Concern for others

Leaders eat first

A. Take care of yourself

regardless of your outstanding record and past contributions, you are, because of your age and career stage, the past, not the future. Like most workplaces, this one, too, needed to invest in the future, and therefore it intended to allocate scarce raise dollars accordingly.
You may think your employer owes you something for your
past contributions and good work—but most employers don’t
agree. Whether it is paltry raises, painful rounds of layoffs, or costcutting
moves to open-office plans, companies, and, for that matter,
nonprofits and government agencies, look after themselves and
their own interests to ensure their survival and prosperity.





With respect to self-interest, as Adam Grant noted in his
bestselling book Give and Take, people who are “givers,” those
who are generous with their time and with their help of others, are
often the most successful in building networks of support and
therefore in their careers.16 But Grant also summarized research,
including his own, that found that givers were not only among the
most successful individuals, they were also among the least
successful, and he provided advice about how to be generous
without being a patsy. But even more to the point, Grant noted that
“in the workplace, givers are a relatively rare breed.”17 Therefore
you should not expect to be surrounded by such people. Moreover,
research suggests that cooperative cultures are quite fragile, as are
cooperation and trust in prisoner’s dilemma games. Once
individualistic values come to dominate,18 or once people defect in
prisoner’s dilemma situations,19 trust and cooperation are difficult
if not impossible to rebuild.


Moreover, as Jim Collins pointed out in Good to Great, unrealistic optimism and a failure to see
the situation as it is can be not only unhelpful—it can be fatal. He called this the Stockdale paradox,
after James Stockdale, a U.S. military officer held captive for eight years during the Vietnam war.
Stockdale was tortured numerous times and had little reason to believe he would live to see his wife
again. Although Stockdale understood his predicament, he also never lost hope that he might endure
it and not only survive his ordeal but use it as a defining experience in his life. And here is the
paradox:
While Stockdale had remarkable faith in the unknowable, he noted that it was always the
most optimistic of his prisonmates who failed to make it out of there alive. “They were the
ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and
Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would
come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again.
And they died of a broken heart.” What the optimists failed to do was confront the reality of
their situation. They preferred the ostrich approach, sticking their heads in the sand and
hoping for the difficulties to go away. That self-delusion might have made it easier on them
in the short-term, but when they were eventually forced to face reality, it had become too
much and they couldn’t handle it.1
And, of course, such unfounded optimism often precluded taking action to deal with the
situation as best one could, which is precisely what Stockdale did.

To work for Steve Jobs of Apple was to face the risk of at any moment being “Steved” as it
came to be called, berated and fired—with such firings sometimes being rescinded on the same day.
When my Stanford colleague Robert Sutton decided to add a chapter on the virtues of being an
asshole to his book The No Asshole Rule, he did some casual research to see whom to include.
Sutton did a Google search pairing the term with the names of some prominent CEOs who might fit
the description. Steve Jobs came out on top, far surpassing Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who came in
second place.
And speaking of Larry Ellison, he has patterned his management approach after medieval
samurai warriors. Ellison’s outbursts in meetings with his staff are famous not just for his use of
invective but for their length—sometimes going on as long as an hour.10
Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon is also famous for his outbursts of temper and his
put-downs of employees, including the line, “We are going to have to supply some human
intelligence to this problem.”11
Paul Allen, who cofounded Microsoft along with Bill Gates, wrote that working with Gates was
like “being in hell.”

B. How to face the reality of organizational life
a. Stop confusing the normative with the descriptive, focus more on what is
b. Watch actions, not words
c. Sometimes you have to behave badly to do good
d. Stop the either or thinking (i.e. don’t categorize as good/ bad)
e. Forgive but remember

CONNECTIONS AND DISCONNECTIONS
The problem with leadership is at its core a story of disconnections:
• the disconnect between what leaders say and what they do;
• the disconnect between the leadership industry’s prescriptions and the reality of many leaders’
behaviors and traits;
• the disconnect between the multidimensional nature of leadership performance and the simple,
noncontingent answers so many people seek;
• the disconnect between how the leadership industry is evaluated (happy sheets that tap
inspiration and satisfaction) and the actual consequences of leader failures (miserable
workplaces and career derailments);
• the disconnect between leader performance and behavior and the consequences those leaders
face;
• the disconnect between what most people seem to want (good news, nice stories, emotional
uplift) and what they need (the truth);
• the disconnect between what would make workplaces better and organizations more effective,
and the base rate with which such prescriptions get implemented.

[Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book on leadership qualities that actually exist in the business world, not simply those that are aspirational. Pfeffer takes the leadership development industry to the woodshed and offers evidence-based reasoning for why much of the industry is phony. Pfeffer forces a hard look at the current business world for what it is. According to the author, we need to accurately recognize that of which we want to change.

[Rajiv Pant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Formatted version of this review on my blog

Leadership B.S. by Stanford University Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer (Book Review)
Few books open our eyes by revealing truths hiding in plain sight. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman is one. Leadership B.S. by Jeff Pfeffer is another.

Many books, lessons, and word-of-mouth teachings about leadership are misleading, misrepresentative of real world experience, and based on feel-good ideals. There are five reasons why several things we are taught about leadership and management are wrong.

1. Lack of Rigor — Many leadership lessons based on someone’s experience are not based on a systematic analysis of complete data, comprehensive understanding of circumstances, and other available options at the time. What worked for the winner may be simply chance (luck), weakness of the opposition, or insufficiently acknowledged help from others.

2. Before and After — The behaviors that lead a person to a powerful leadership position are often not the same as the good qualities the person assumes later in life after they are already successful. Take the case of Bill Gates, who as a competitive businessman was a different person from the kind, caring philanthropist he is today.

3. Delusion — Human beings have a positive, good impressions of ourselves that are often not accurate. Studies have shown that about 80% of people believe they are better car drivers than average, better looking than average, and better human beings than others. The Overconfidence effect and above average effect are well documented. How a successful leader feels they act (morally) is often quite different from what they actually do based on observation.

4. Deception — Human beings, especially successful ones, lie, mislead, and often don’t give away their coveted secrets that given them their competitive edge. There is plenty of scientific evidence that lying is a common daily habit.

5. Leaving a Legacy — Many leadership books and articles are written to make the author look good, to build a good reputation and brand for the leader, and to make money. They are not primarily written for the purpose of making other people successful, even if the author thinks so. This could be due to delusion, deception, or a little bit of both.

For the above reasons, my friend Jeff Pfeffer and I sometimes say that most leadership books and products should be labeled like packs of cigarettes: “Warning: This information will make you feel good in the short term, but is likely to be harmful to your effectiveness, career, well-being.”

So how should you minimize your time and effort wasted learning ineffective leadership and management methods that are likely to backfire?

I highly recommend reading the excellent book Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time by Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford University. It was finalist for the 2015 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year and Best business book of the week selected by Inc.com. This book will help you identify real and effective leadership and management lessons based on evidence that are more likely to work than platitudes.

In full disclosure, in the acknowledgements section of this book, Professor Pfeffer wrote:

This book was inspired in part by my interactions with Rajiv Pant. It was Rajiv who first used the phrase “feel-good leadership literature.” It was Rajiv who provided some of the stories and examples incorporated in this book. But mostly it was Rajiv Pant who helped me see how much damage was occurring because of the current incarnation of the leadership industry. Rajiv’s support and friendship mean a great deal, not only for this book but in my life.

Pfeffer, Jeffrey. Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time (pp. 221-222). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

[W · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a 3.5 stars. The entire book is devoted to debunking myths about leaderships. Being a person who used to be part of that industry I do agree with what he has written, however an entire book about that was a bit too much. If you have no time, just read the first and last chapter and it would be enough.

[Texjim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very informative and eye opening exploration of the state of leadership in business organizations by a professor of business. The author uses the social science literature to make a cogent argument that despite the annual billions spent on inspirational leadership development, that leadership assessed by several measures is at an all time low, work places are toxic and the majority of workers are dissatisfied and disengaged. He discusses at length the value of key widely accepted hallmarks of good leadership e.g. trust, honesty, humility etc. The author then argues that successful practitioners with these favorable characteristics are so rare that everyone uses these few as examples of great leadership strategies. In contrast most business leaders possess few if any of these traits with little or no apparent personal costs. Although some espouse the right things, few actually walk the walk. He goes on to illustrate why the opposite of said traits can often be advantageous to these "bad leaders". The text is peppered with high profile examples of gross errors in ethics and behavior; very often without any substantive consequence. One might easily assume from his presentation that leadership training and their proposed leadership qualities are both suspect because in their absence business goes on. However, there is no practical way to determine how much better business outcomes would be if these qualities were widely applied by leadership. I agree that leadership training may have failed to improve leaders in general but is it their fault if their target audience simply ignores them because no one in business organizations (workers, stockholders, boards) holds them accountable. Whistle blowers are uniformly punished for their efforts. One key problem which the author clearly identifies is that the self-interest and the survival of the CEO often differs substantially from that of both the the workers and business itself. The text itself is convoluted at times but usually gets the point across in the end with many examples. Despite the clear identification of the problem there is little direction as to strategies to address it. One obvious take home message :do you research before trusting anyone with your future or any company's employment promises. As one who spent his working life in the public sector, I found the book an interesting, perhaps eye-opening read.

[chsmiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. It basically dispels any myths about benevolent leadership and asks us to take a cold hard look at the often self-interested, contradictory, and hypocritical actions that leaders take. In the book, Pfeffer contends that the leadership industry basically puts out feel-good fluff that is designed to inspire but has no scientific grounding or rigorous follow-up studies. This rang true for me as I've seen people ask for details on the outcomes of corporate leadership training only to be given hand-wavy responses about how much everyone enjoyed it. In the end, he urges us to look critically at what the leaders in companies (or anywhere for that matter) actually do and not what they say in order to avoid being disappointed or hurt when they fail to live up to their stated principles.

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one belongs to the category I call "Schrödinger's books" - because it's both right & wrong in the same time ;> But at least it makes the reader think on her/his own, which is already a great benefit.

Basically author tries to deal with what he calls "leadership industry" - a movement that tries to send unrealistic & non-verifiable, hippie vision of leadership based on inspirational speeches, aimed mainly for temporal high spirits boost. He writes a lot about leadership crisis we encounter, its reasons & ways to solve it - especially ones that are BELIEVED to solve it, but there's no proof they do. Actually, he spends a lot of time to show that many cases indeed prove otherwise - the most successful leaders are narcissistic (one would say "asshole") individuals.

Another interesting topic is the rift between actual behaviours & "official" statements, e.g. ones presented in various literature - Pfeffers goes through the reasoning of these differences, something I find particularly interesting.

Why is he right & wrong in the same time? Because situations he describes is usually clearly descended (with a full continuity) from the traditional, hierarchical models - these companies & their leaders have evolved for a long time, they have some cultural legacy & they've reached a scale that requires a lot of boldness & resoluteness. BUT it doesn't mean that this all is applicable to small units that emerge from nothing - smart start-up culture built from scratch under completely different conditions. These small cultures (with openness & transparency restricted only to <150 ppl groups) can be incredibly performing - IF proper (DIFFERENT!) leadership values are being applied.

But lets get back to the book itself. Basically - the further, the better. Initial ~15% is continuous whining, neither constructive, nor interesting. But then it gets much more interesting - obviously you shouldn't get it very directly, but rather "filter" with your own experience & judgement, but it's clearly a good food for you own thoughts ;)

If you're about to read just one leadership books this year, you should consider this one. It's not perfect, but it pops up the right issues.

[Gokul Narayan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm. This book has a lot of shocking takes on leadership, but with interesting examples. When you look at examples like Steve Jobs and Conan Mc Gregor who displayed over-confidence and narcissistic traits, it kind of proves what this book is talking about. Part of the reason why people love, admire and respect these personalities is because they exude such personalities, the other half being they put their money where their mouth is.

What I have taken, and think most people should take from this book, is to not take any business advice you see from business leaders or articles as the truth. Take it with a grain of salt, even this book.

Find a leadership style that suits you, your team and your culture.

[Akshay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really interesting read for me, especially since I've been reading a lot of leadership/culture books recently. It is deeply skeptical (scathing, even) and honest and I felt uncomfortable reading it because it wasn't giving me what I expected it to read (not really funny, certainly not inspiring) but I also found myself challenging the notions of leadership and culture that I've been parroting and wondering how to balance them against the reality of corporate life.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes on everything that is wrong with the leadership industry and the platitudes it serves and dismantles it one concept at a time. For anyone feeling the disconnect between the well-crafted phrases in CEOs' interviews and the reality of what kind of behaviors actually get incentivized in the workplace, this book will show that you are more right than you know.

[Gela · Rating 4 out of 5]

First reads win Goodreads. I wrote a review but downy know what happened to it. I liked thus book very informative. I got a lot from it and it let me see things in a different light. I think everyone should read it leader, supervisor or general emoloyee.

[cobaltclam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll save you $30 and 200 pages. Self-serving, lying, conniving a$$holes make the big bucks. If you want to be in charge, learn to be one. If you have a shred of decency, the business world as it is already fills you with despair. This book will just add to it.

[Gamze Seckin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most honest leadership book I read.