In this book, Mats Alvesson aims to demystify some popular and upbeat claims about a range of phenomena, including the knowledge society, consumption, branding, higher education, organizational change, professionalization, and leadership. He contends that a culture of grandiosity is leading to numerous inflated claims. We no longer talk about plans but ‘strategies’. Supervisors have been replaced by ‘managers’, managers are referred to as executives. Management is about ‘leadership’. Giving advice is ‘coaching’. Companies become ‘knowledge-intensive firms’. The book views the contemporary economy as an economy of persuasion, where firms and other institutions increasingly assign talent, energy, and resources to rhetoric, image, branding, reputation, and visibility. The book develops a framework for understanding the contemporary age and its institutions, critically examining some of these predominant ideas, considering how economic growth and higher consumption are, but should not necessarily be seen as key sources of increased satisfaction; why education is seen as something positive that leads to higher qualifications, and is assumed to be needed to an increasing extent by both individuals and society to the extent that many take for granted; how current and future working life is permeated by grandiose views of a knowledge economy and a knowledge-intensive society, and why a greater degree of professionalization, with an emphasis on leadership in the creation of effective organizations sounds fine, but also creates problems. Alvesson demonstrates that many conditions and developments in these three areas can be better understood in terms of grandiosity, illusion, and zero-sum games. This provocative and engaging book challenges established assumptions and contributes to a critical understanding of society as a whole.