André Spicer – författare

Företag som lägger tusentals timmar av personalens arbetstid på att förbereda och sätta av möten. Organisationer som utvecklar strategier som ingen bryr sig om. Anställda inom viktiga samhällsbärande yrken som lägger större delen av sin arbetstid på administrativa uppgifter. Vad gör vi egentligen på våra jobb och hur kommer det sig att så många organisationer tycks hindra sina anställda från att vara produktiva?Organisationsforskarna Mats Alvesson och André Spicer började nysta i detta och upptäckte att organisationer ofta är igenslammade av policyer, regler, rutiner och initiativ. Var för sig kan varje initiativ vara eller i alla fall verka fördelaktigt. Men när de läggs samman blockerar de arbetet och hindrar organisationer från att få flyt i arbetet och uppfylla sitt syfte. Vad ska man göra för att överleva i slammiga organisationer? I stället för att göra mer behöver vi öva oss i konsten att göra mindre.

Vi strävar alla efter att bli bättre människor. Snyggare, smartare, mer produktiva, bättre älskare och mer hälsosamma. Vi går på kurser, läser böcker och tittar på Youtubeklipp. Egentligen finns det ingen del av livet som inte kan optimeras.

Forskarna Carl Cederström och André Spicer försöker under ett års tid att systematiskt förbättra olika delar av sin tillvaro. I januari ökar de sin produktivitet, i juni maximerar de sin sexuella njutning och i september ska de bli miljonärer. Experimentet förvandlas snart till ett sätt att leva, där de investerar stora mängder tid och pengar i att bli den optimala versionen av sig själva.Den vilda jakten på ett bättre jag är en rolig och självutlämnande skildring av självhjälpsindustrin och vad den gör med oss. I slutet av året tvingas författarna ställa frågan: Vad var meningen med allt?Carl Cederström är docent i företagsekonomi vid Stockholms universitet och författare eller redaktör till fem böcker. Han har skrivit för The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic och Svenska Dagbladet. André Spicer är professor på Cass Business School, London, och författare och redaktör till sju böcker. Han har skrivit för The Guardian, Financial Times, The Times och CNN. Spicer är bosatt i London.

Not exercising as much as you should? Counting your calories in your sleep? Feeling ashamed for not being happier? You may be a victim of the wellness syndrome.

In this ground-breaking new book, Carl Cederström and André Spicer argue that the ever-present pressure to maximize our wellness has started to work against us, making us feel worse and provoking us to withdraw into ourselves. The Wellness Syndrome follows health freaks who go to extremes to find the perfect diet, corporate athletes who start the day with a dance party, and the self-trackers who monitor everything, including their own toilet habits. This is a world where feeling good has become indistinguishable from being good. Visions of social change have been reduced to dreams of individual transformation, political debate has been replaced by insipid moralising, and scientific evidence has been traded for new-age delusions. A lively and humorous diagnosis of the cult of wellness, this book is an indispensable guide for everyone suspicious of our relentless quest to be happier and healthier.

We live in a leadership-obsessed society. The result is that we assume nearly any social or economic ill can be mended through better leadership. Sometimes, this commitment to leadership is followed by hero worshipping, wishful thinking and misplaced hope.

Seeking to understand the faith we place in leadership, the authors draw on a number of in-depth studies of managers trying to "do" leadership. It presents six metaphors for the leader: as gardener, cosy-crafter, saint, cyborg, commander and bully. Some of these offer unexpected insights into how leadership does and does not work. The book sheds light on a varied - often contradictory and sometimes darker - side of leadership.

Cutting through the management-speak drenched current literature on leadership, Metaphors We Lead By presents an enlightening and refreshing understanding of an important topic. It will be useful reading for students and researchers, as well as the thinking manager.

We live in a leadership-obsessed society. The result is that we assume nearly any social or economic ill can be mended through better leadership. Sometimes, this commitment to leadership is followed by hero worshipping, wishful thinking and misplaced hope.

Seeking to understand the faith we place in leadership, the authors draw on a number of in-depth studies of managers trying to "do" leadership. It presents six metaphors for the leader: as gardener, cosy-crafter, saint, cyborg, commander and bully. Some of these offer unexpected insights into how leadership does and does not work. The book sheds light on a varied - often contradictory and sometimes darker - side of leadership.

Cutting through the management-speak drenched current literature on leadership, Metaphors We Lead By presents an enlightening and refreshing understanding of an important topic. It will be useful reading for students and researchers, as well as the thinking manager.

Our organizations are flooded with empty talk. We are constantly "going forward" to lands of "deliverables", stopping off on the "journey" to "drill down" into "best practice". Being an expert at using management speak has become more important in corporate life than delivering long lasting results. The upshot is that meaningless corporate jargon is killing our organizations.

In this book, management scholar the author argues we need to call this empty talk what it is: bullshit. The book looks at how organizations have become vast machines for manufacturing, distributing and consuming bullshit. It follows how the meaningless language of management has spread through schools, NGOs, politics and the media.

Business Bullshit shows you how to spot business bullshit, considers why it is so popular, and outlines the impact it has on organizations and the people who work there. It also outlines what we can do to minimise bullshit at work. The author makes a case for why organizations need to avoid empty talk and reconnect with core activities.

Our organizations are flooded with empty talk. We are constantly "going forward" to lands of "deliverables", stopping off on the "journey" to "drill down" into "best practice". Being an expert at using management speak has become more important in corporate life than delivering long lasting results. The upshot is that meaningless corporate jargon is killing our organizations.

In this book, management scholar the author argues we need to call this empty talk what it is: bullshit. The book looks at how organizations have become vast machines for manufacturing, distributing and consuming bullshit. It follows how the meaningless language of management has spread through schools, NGOs, politics and the media.

Business Bullshit shows you how to spot business bullshit, considers why it is so popular, and outlines the impact it has on organizations and the people who work there. It also outlines what we can do to minimise bullshit at work. The author makes a case for why organizations need to avoid empty talk and reconnect with core activities.