Pan Macmillan wins in 'highly competitive' seven-way auction for a 'survival guide to personalities'

Pan Macmillan has won a "highly competitive" seven-way auction for a "survival guide to personalities".

Mike Harpley, publisher at Pan Non-fiction, bought UK and Commonwealth rights in Nell Montgomery’s and Elisa Morris’ We Are Not a Family from Matilda Forbes Watson at WME. The title will publish on the Macmillan Business imprint in spring 2027.

In We Are Not a Family, the 12 most prominent workplace archetypes are outlined by executive coach Nell Montgomery and psychotherapist Elisa Morris. These include "The Perfectionist" and "The Mediator" to "The Joker" and the authors trace them from childhood to the boardroom. This book will help to "equip the reader to identify these traits in themselves and better navigate encounters with colleagues".

Harpley said: "As soon as this brilliant proposal came to us, we were comparing notes and categorising both ourselves and our colleagues. The book is both a lot of fun, but also incredibly helpful. It reminded us of a blend of Attached and Surrounded by Idiots."

Montgomery is the CEO of Psychiatry UK and spent 10 years in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and on the board as MD of Investec Securities, where she developed an interest in the human elements of organisation. Morris is a psychotherapist who runs a private practice in Bath and teaches at the Bath Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling.

Montgomery and Morris said Pan Macmillan had "exciting ambitions for the book and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of the world’s workforce".