Overview

How can we fix what we can't see? The norms crushing innovation—and our joy—are finally made visible. All 24 of them. In Our Best Work, Nilofer Merchant names the 24 invisible norms—born of hierarchy, control, and a worn-out model of capitalism—that limit us all. Along the way, she dismantles some of management’s most beloved ideas: Servant Leadership Personal Branding Speaking Up Performance Reviews Move Fast and Break Things These aren’t just ideas that fall short—they are daily routines that trap us in the past. Merchant exposes how and why they fail us. But it’s not enough to know the problem, we must also know how to move forward. She lights the path to the future by providing the 24 leading indicators that bring out the best of us and the best of us. Each chapter closes with a concrete practice, so teams can turn insight into action. Ranked among the world’s most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50, Merchant brings an unmatched range of experience: from her start as an administrative assistant to shaping strategy at Apple and early-stage startups to serving on corporate boards. She has experienced the realities of power from every seat at the table, across industries, and around the globe. Her ideas have already reshaped companies—and their futures. With this incisive take, Merchant offers a clear and collective path to do our best work, including: Unlocking the essential source of innovation: new and novel ideas Replacing competition with trust Creating the solutions of tomorrow, not just today’s profits If you’ve tired of self-help fixes or the latest fads, Our Best Work offers another way: by changing the rules of work itself. 

Full Product Details

9780063465732

Table of Contents

Reviews

“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

“Nilofer Merchant draws on her wealth of experience and rare common sense to uncover 24 perversive and soul crushing norms that damage innovation, well-being, and profits. Our Best Work provides powerful and proven antidotes for leaders who are bent on banishing these bad old ways of doing business. I am smitten with her solutions including ‘A hero harms us,’ ‘forge A-teams by not fixating on A-players,’ and that ‘strategy and execution are one and the same.’” — 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 “In her latest book, Nilofer Merchant challenges the limiting assumptions in our existing playbook and forges a new path to innovation. Creative, story-filled, and practical, 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 “This book may blow the lid off everything people think they know about how to lead and manage organizations. Nilofer 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. Much of what Merchant has to say will surely be controversial, but if people take her arguments seriously, when the dust clears, life in these organizations will be much improved, as will the goods and services they offer. Merchant is especially well-positioned to write such a book, with a long history of leadership positions in some legendary companies.” — Barry Schwartz, Visiting Professor at Haas School of Business, U.C. Berkeley, and author of The Paradox of Choice and Why We Work “With her engaging, powerful voice, Nilofer Merchant invites readers to move beyond outdated and individualistic management paradigms towards more collaborative—and more human—approaches to value creation. 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 “Finally, a business book that dares to expose the invisible forces holding back innovation — and that offers a viable path forward. Nilofer Merchant has delivered a bracing blueprint for any leader who wants to combine purpose and profit.” — Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Regret and Drive “Our Best Work expertly exposes the invisible norms that limit innovation and value creation in today's organizations. Drawing on decades of Silicon Valley experience and extensive research, Nilofer Merchant reveals how inherited workplace practices systematically overlook the talents and contributions of the majority of our workforce. But Merchant doesn't just call out the problem—she is redefining what effective management means for our time, offering a powerful new vision for leadership based on enabling rather than controlling. By identifying hidden barriers and providing practical solutions, she delivers an essential playbook for building truly collaborative, high-performing organizations where everyone can contribute their full talents. At a time when companies struggle to innovate and adapt to changing cultural norms, Our Best Work provides a blueprint for human-centered leadership that will define successful organizations in the future. Our Best Work offers transformative ideas that bridge the gap between management theory and lived experience, demonstrating how including all voices is essential for creating sustainable business value.” — Kristy Tillman, Former Head of Workplace Experience Design, Slack “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 “As the head of the Athena Center for Leadership at the feminist powerhouse Barnard College, my mission is to cultivate the next generation of leaders—those ready to challenge the status quo and drive transformative change, like alumnae Grace Lee Boggs, Chai Feldblum, and Greta Gerwig. So when I say this, I mean it: 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 “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 “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

Author Information

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. 

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