Why Should Anyone Work Here?: What It Takes to Create an Authentic Organization

by Rob Goffee, Gareth Jones

Overview

Imagine designing the best company on earth to work for . . .

What would that company be like? How would you build and sustain it? As a leader, you need to know. In the past, businesses made people conform to the organization’s needs. But the old paradigm has shifted. Now leaders must transform their organizations so that they attract the right people, keep them, and inspire them to do their best work. How do you create a culture people want to belong to?

In this powerful and necessary follow-up to the classic Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?, leadership and organizational sages Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones identify and illuminate the six key organizational attributes to do just that. In separate chapters, they delve deeply into each one:

1. Let people be themselves
2. Practice radical honesty
3. Magnify people’s strengths
4. Stand for authenticity (more than shareholder value)
5. Make work meaningful
6. Make simple rules

With vivid stories and examples from global companies, the authors illustrate the kind of strong, attractive workplace culture that leads to sustained high performance. They also provide ways of assessing how your company is doing and describe the tensions and trade-offs that leaders must manage as they transform their organizations.

Why Should Anyone Work Here? is the question all contemporary organizational leaders must constantly ask themselves if they want to survive and thrive in the new world. This book will help them answer that question.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625275097
Publisher:	Harvard Business Review Press
Publication date:	11/03/2015
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Rob Goffee is Emeritus Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, where he teaches in the world-renowned Senior Executive Programme. Gareth Jones is a Fellow of the Centre for Management Development at London Business School and a visiting professor at Spain’s IE Business School in Madrid. Goffee and Jones consult to the boards of several global companies and are coauthors of Why Should Anyone Be Led by You? and Clever, both published by Harvard Business Review Press.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Should Anyone Work Here? 1

Chapter 1 Let People Be Themselves 21

Amplifying Difference Instead of Minimizing It

Chapter 2 Practice Radical Honesty 51

Communicating What's Really Going On

Chapter 3 Build on People's Strengths and Interests 75

Creating Extra Value for Everyone

Chapter 4 Stand for Something Real

Putting Authenticity at the Core 101

Chapter 5 Make it Meaningful 121

Ensuring the Daily Work Is Intrinsically Satisfying

Chapter 6 Simplify the Rules 147

Reducing the Clutter and Increasing Clarity and Fairness

Chapter 7 Creating and Sustaining the Authentic Organization 171

Trade-Offs and Challenges

Conclusion: Toward More Authentic Organizations 195

Appendix: Methods and Diagnostic Instrument 201

Notes 207

Index 215

Acknowledgments 231

About the Authors 233

Editorial Reviews

“Some of the best material addresses employee development, the most concrete way to help workers become their best selves.” — Inc.

“… an essential guide for creative leaders wanting to transform their workplace and enable people’s best selves, including their own, to emerge.” — Forbes, Top 10 Creative Leadership Books Of 2015

“[this book] finally gives us a deeper look into what people look for in their workplaces in order to thrive and feel they are bringing the best and highest selves to the work they do each day.” — Forbes

“5 management books you wish you could give your boss for the holidays. Number 1: Why Should Anyone Work Here?” — Inc.

"I hope people embarking on their careers, middle managers and frustrated staff will read this book as readily as directors. It gives everyone a 'voice' diagnostics and a rationale to make companies the systematised forces they need to be, by recognising the motivation of human beings to want to work rather than having to work. Five-star recommendation from me." — Management Today

“Why Should Anyone Work Here? is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the pair’s 2006 business bestseller, Why Should Anyone Be Led By You? It shifts the focus from individual leadership to broader organisational failings." — People Management Magazine

“When Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones wrote Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?, it became a bestseller… This new book, Why Should Anyone Work Here…builds on that previous work.” — The Financial Times

“…six research-based and action-oriented keys for practicing authenticity, nurturing people and succeeding with the fundamentally social challenges of leadership.” — David Slocum, FORBES

“… a practical and pragmatic book…” — Developing Leaders

ADVANCE PRAISE for Why Should Anyone Work Here?:

Herminia Ibarra, professor, INSEAD; author, Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader—
“Goffee and Jones have a knack for asking the right questions at the right time. The workplace as we know it is broken, and no amount of personal, ‘authentic’ leadership is going to fix it. A primer on what it will take to build organizations where people can truly be their best, this book is a must-read for anyone concerned with attracting the best talent and fostering their creativity.”

Franz Humer, Chairman, Diageo; former Chairman, F. Hoffmann-LaRoche—
“A great sequel to Why Should Anyone Be Led by You? This book lifts the discussions about authentic leadership and what makes for the best possible organization to a new level. A must-read for all CEOs.”

Costas Markides, professor, London Business School—
“If you were to design the best workplace on earth, what would it look like? You can find the answers to this question in this wonderful book. Why Should Anyone Work Here? is full of inspiring examples, intellectual wisdom, and practical advice on how to design an organization that brings out the best in its people. It is bound to become required reading for any senior executive.”

Chantal Gaemperle, LVMH Group Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Synergies—
“The combination of the right products with the right people drives a brand’s success. After showing that leadership is not given but earned in Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?, Goffee and Jones now demonstrate that to complete the equation, a leader must build and shape the right organizational culture to stimulate creativity and ensure long-term success.”

Belmiro de Azevedo, former Chairman and CEO, Sonae—
“Goffee and Jones have taught us much in the last two decades about how to be outstanding leaders. And it is our job as leaders to create the distinctive cultures that will attract and foster talent and leadership. In this book, they show us how to do this, clearly demonstrating, as no one has before, the key importance of a few simple cultural traits in order for companies to be great.”

From the Publisher