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How can we fix what we can''t see? The invisible norms crushing innovation--and our joy--finally have a name. Nilofer Merchant, co-founder of The Intangible Labs, reveals what''s killing great work and gives you the tools to fix it. Something mighty--but intangible--is getting in the way of doing our best work. Seventy percent of people are ridiculously unhappy at work--a figure that has barely budged in thirty years. Despite major changes in technology, management trends, and office setups, the core issues that drive widespread discontent persist and exact a tangible cost: billions in lost productivity, stalled revenue, and missed advantages from ideas that never had their shot. Drawing on decades of research and real-world experience, Nilofer Merchant identifies 24 intangible norms--rooted in outdated hierarchies, paternalism, and a worn-out model of capitalism--that prevent us from doing our best work. She shows how we can replace these 24 limits with 24 leading indicators that form the foundation for a new way of thinking, working, and creating value. She takes apart beloved management constructs and shows why they fail us, including: Servant Leadership Personal Branding Performance Reviews Speaking Up Move Fast & Break Things Strategy is Separate from Execution& Give Work Your All Visionary and practical, The 24 Intangibles lights the path from here to there. Ranked one of the most influential management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, Merchant has been both a successful business executive and incisive thinker, whose work is backed by a wealth of data and vivid case studies. Hers is a bold and brave message: the future is not about control or hierarchy; it''s about co-creation and unleashing the untapped potential within every individual. Merchant''s deep experience--from administrative assistant to corporate board member--gives her insight into what needs to change and why. She speaks a new language to bring forth a new world in which we can add, build, and create the value we need. Using principles from economics, power, and leadership along with practical wisdom and a framework for collective progress, The 24 Intangibles is an essential guide for leaders and organizations ready to thrive in a rapidly evolving world. ...
About the author
Nilofer Merchant is the founder of The Intangible Labs, defining the metrics and leading indicators for modern work. https://theintangiblelabs.com/. Merchant has personally launched more than 100 products, netting $18B in sales, has worked for companies ranging from Apple to Autodesk and advises many others. Her visionary ideas have been recognized by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Financial Times, Fast Company, Fortune, Marie Claire, Vogue, O: The Oprah Magazine, Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg, CNN, and Time Magazine. Her 2013 TED Talk "Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation," is in the top 10 percent of TED's most viewed talks. Our Best Work is her fourth book.
Report
"Refreshing and rigorous, this book takes on entrenched norms that stifle innovation and joy. Prepare to be challenged and inspired!" - Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School and bestselling author of Right Kind of Wrong
"A bracing blueprint for any leader." - Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Regret and Drive
"A delicious book, Our Best Work reminds us of what happens when we choose trust over fear and design a future we can be proud of together." - John Maeda, Vice President of Design & AI at Microsoft and author of The Laws of Simplicity
"By identifying hidden barriers and providing practical solutions, Merchant delivers an essential playbook for building truly collaborative, high-performing organizations where everyone can contribute their full talents." - Kristy Tillman, Former Head of Workplace Experience Design, Slack
"Our Best Work is a must-read for creating teams ready for the future." - Sanyin Siang, Founding Executive Director of Duke University's Center on Leadership and Ethics and author of The Launch Book
"Our Best Work provides powerful and proven antidotes for leaders who are bent on banishing these bad old ways of doing business." - Robert I. Sutton, Professor Emeritus at Stanford and New York Times bestselling author of The No Asshole Rule and (with Huggy Rao) The Friction Project
"This book may blow the lid off everything people think they know about how to lead and manage organizations. Merchant takes on virtually every slogan in the manager's informal handbook and shows them to be either fatuous or false, and destructive (not merely useless) to the organizations that live by them and the people who work in them." - Barry Schwartz, Visiting Professor at Haas School of Business, U.C. Berkeley, and author of The Paradox of Choice and Why We Work
"Brilliantly reframing what it means to create value, Our Best Work pushes us to question the systems that limit our best work and our truest selves." - Chip Conley, New York Times bestselling author of Emotional Equations and Learning to Love Midlife
"Our Best Work is the book I-and the college students and early-career innovators I work with-have been waiting for!" - Umbreen Bhatti, Constance Hess Williams '66 Director of the Athena Center for Leadership, Barnard College, Columbia University
"Merchant understands the importance of tackling structural change to ensure that the voices often unheard are the ones driving the future." - Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code and New York Times bestselling author of Brave, Not Perfect
