The triumph of emptiness : consumption higher education and work organization 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 Supervisors have been replaced by managers managers are referred to as executives.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. Using a wide range of empirical examples to illuminate the realms of consumption higher education organization and leadership this provocative and engaging book challenges established assumptions and contributes to a critical understanding of society as a whole. Publishers website