"Often funny, this little book shows in a convincing way that what personal development puts in place constitutes a neoliberal device of domestication of the person." Le Monde Diplomatique

Since the early 1990s, "personal development" has been booming. Constantly, we undergo an injunction to acquire a "surplus of being" to become a better individual. But behind these sweet talks, it is the rise of a political ideology that we are witnessing in a world where everything revolves around the axiom "where there’s a will, there’s a way", the collective disappears from the screen to leave only individuals 100% responsible for everything, their destiny, their job, and even their health! In this jubilant essay, Thierry Jobard brilliantly denounces the vast deception of personal development, which advocates a model of society based on permanent performance and disintegration of social ties...