Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman expose the fallacies of standard management thinking in First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently. In seven chapters, the two consultants for the Gallup Organization debunk some dearly held notions about management, such as "treat people as you like to be treated"; "people are capable of almost anything"; and "a manager's role is diminishing in today's economy." "Great managers are revolutionaries," the authors write. "This book will take you inside the minds of these managers to explain why they have toppled conventional wisdom and reveal the new truths they have forged in its place."
The authors have culled their observations from more than 80,000 interviews conducted by Gallup during the past 25 years. Quoting leaders such as basketball coach Phil Jackson, Buckingham and Coffman outline "four keys" to becoming an excellent manager: Finding the right fit for employees, focusing on strengths of employees, defining the right results, and selecting staff for talent--not just knowledge and skills. First, Break All the Rules offers specific techniques for helping people perform better on the job. For instance, the authors show ways to structure a trial period for a new worker and how to create a pay plan that rewards people for their expertise instead of how fast they climb the company ladder. "The point is to focus people toward performance," they write. "The manager is, and should be, totally responsible for this." Written in plain English and well organized, this book tells you exactly how to improve as a supervisor. --Dan Ring
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Great overall book with many good perspectives.
Customer Rating:
It is good to see a business text written that does not profess and/or propagate the standard business rhythms rather prescribes to look into the natural rhythms that are around us and mold managements processes to capitalize on these.
First Break All the Rules
Customer Rating:
If you are in the position to hire and/or manage employees, this book is a must read. It reaffirms, what most managers know but are scared to do because of corporate/company correctness. It gives a different perspective, on turning employee's talents into performance.
Embracing the Iconoclastic Manager
Customer Rating:
When I was a young management trainee with Enterprise Rent-a-Car (many years ago), I was underpaid and overworked; but I loved my job. I also respected the young, free-wheeling and fun-loving management style the company cultivated; everybody seemed to like everybody else. There were no hidden agendas; just a lot of laughs. We also did our jobs exceptionally well; from my early days in the '70s, Enterprise grew to become the largest and most profitable car rental company in the world by the early '90s.
Unfortunately, they grew too big for their own good. By the end of the '90s, a definite culture of fear permeated the organization. Micro-management and backstabbing proliferated. I made it through the first year of the current millennium, relieved to be out of that type of environment.
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman's wonderful book, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently, examines the issue of what the truly successful managers accomplish in the area of employee engagement and productivity. They understand the iconoclast brings forth positive change; the innovation necessary to keep moving forward. They also understand the importance of getting the most out of people's inherent skills, rather than trying to mold them into something they aren't. It's simple common sense, but it's rarely displayed in the vast wasteland of corporate America.
Since the publication of this gem, several other excellent books have come out which support the authors' findings, and they too, should be read in tandem: Primal Management: Unraveling the Secrets of Human Nature to Drive High Performance, The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How., How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business, and mine---Life Under the Corporate Microscope: A Maverick's Irreverent Perspective.
This is a great place to start. It certainly captures the essence of what the great managers accomplish; and it's a message that needs to be received, loud and clear, by the pompous CEOs of corporate America; the sooner the better.
A must read for managers
Customer Rating:
This is a management approach that all levels of managers need to grow their management skills.
Read before hiring.
Customer Rating:
Before you interview another applicant, read this book. I identified some of the hiring mistakes I have been making. Primarily, I've been hiring for experience and not hiring for talent. FIRST, BREAK ALL THE RULES by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman has helped me to understand what I already knew but was failing to identify and that is, years of experience is worthless if the person doesn't have the talent to do the job.
This book is the result of the Gallop Organization's study of over 400 companies and 80,000 managers. The jacket touts it as the largest study of its kind ever conducted. It probably is. The study reveals some interesting break-throughs in how great managers can influence and form great companies. Boiled down to its essence, the study revolves around 12 questions for employees. I employ 48 people and when I gave the questionnaire to them, it revealed my strengths and weaknesses with some very surprising results. I have found this be a fantastic tool to identify areas were I excel and areas where I need to improve, as a business manager.
I'm very big on leadership, but I've always had trouble wrapping my head around the concept that management is leadership's less important cousin. This study succinctly identifies some of the differences in the two and clearly illustrates that comparing leadership to management is like comparing apples to oranges. They are clearly two distinct and separate skill sets that cannot be compared. Mark Sanborn first brought this notion to the surface with his book, "You Don't Need a Title to be a Leader", but this book really expands the concept.
For me, a good measure of a book is the amount of notes in the margins. This one is cover to cover. I write a lot of training material for my people and I have garnered enough material from this book to last for several months. I know I will reference this book often.
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