Many people already suspected it, but now an insider acknowledges what professional development is really good for: nothing! External staff improvement techniques don't work; personnel can't be "developed." People will only change of their own volition, not because a well-paid coach instructs them to. Staff development is big business, with an impressive growth rate, and so it makes sense that any number of people both within companies and without are interested in profiting from it. Those who offer seminars and present them earn great money, even though they're aware that their efforts will have no effect. In an entertaining book based on solid research, insider Richard Gris now reveals all. The author depicts the ignorance of the many executives who believe they can "shape" their staff, and wind up wasting money in the process.