In many ways this book is a condemnation of the world of management science, a world of which I am a part. Management science is a massive industry that is responsible for identifying the best leadership practices, but the field has become overrun by faddish and unproven ideas.

As we will see in this book, researchers have for too long been enamored with attributes, such as personality and style, that are only tangentially related to how well executives actually do their job. For example, while it may be nice for a leader to be very likable or charismatic, these qualities have nothing to do with their ability to get to the “right” answer. Getting to the truth of what is really going on is the primary responsibility ...

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