First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

A Different Way to Think About Management First, Break All the Rules challenges a lot of the conventional wisdom about being a “good boss.” Instead of focusing on fixing weaknesses, the book emphasizes identifying and developing people’s strengths. It’s built on extensive Gallup research, so it doesn’t just feel like opinion—it’s backed by data and real examples. What I appreciated most was how practical the ideas are. The sections on employee engagement and asking the right questions during performance evaluations gave me tools I could immediately use with my own team. It’s not a “quick tips” kind of book but rather a mindset shift that sticks with you.

I am a recent MBA grad with 15 years' experience in different company environments. I've worked for Silicon Valley startups, large national corporations, and family-owned businesses. The scenarios, myths, situations, and other examples in the book are 100% right on! Gallup has put names and descriptions on things that I have lived with for years. Now a manager at another tech startup, I plan on using this book as a template to grow our company into a vibrant workplace that attracts and KEEPS talented individuals. I don't understand the reviewers who say they gained nothing from this book. There is a well-documented framework that is not weighted down with technical terminology, and a productive toolset to implement the theory. I especially appreciated the section on creating Advocates, something that I have been prevented from doing by supervisors in past positions. In my opinion, anyone who does not recognize the business implications of Advocates needs to go back and retake Business 101. Understanding and measuring "Talent" is what this book is based on, and is worth learning. It is not as "out there" as personality typing, and makes good business sense. Put people where they will naturally do well, and your business and Clients will do well also. I am a firm believer that employees will do what you pay them to do. Incentive plans are critical in controlling what people do on a daily basis. Here, again, this book makes a lot of sense advising that incentive plans must be tailored to the individual. I do not climb on many bandwagons, but I will get up on my soapbox about this book. It is simply the best book I have ever read about managing people and making the most of a workplace. Much has been written about what makes a workplace great. This book tells you how to make YOUR workplace great. I recommend it without hesitation.

There is a race for talent in today's job market. Organizations are realizing more and more that their competitive advantage lies within those individuals interfacing with customers and other employees. A businesses' greatest asset is indeed the individuals of the organization. We, in training and development, have known this for a long time. Now, there is bottom line business language that helps others acknowledge and quantify the human asset. In my consulting practice I see more and more emphasis and investment in the developing and cultivation or leadership. In order for organizations to capitalize on their human assets, they must invest in the leadership teams who are managing talent. Recently facilitating a project for Innovative Training Strategies I was introduced to this book First, Break All the Rules. This book is rich with analogies, case studies, and practical information for any one who has more than one employee. Buckingham and Coffman present a business case for leadership development that is based on a Gallup survey of over a million employees and 80,000 managers from a vast range of companies and industries. I feel so strongly about this book for you as a business leader and in your organizations' success that I recommend it be a required reading for you and members of your leadership team. That said, my intent here is to share just a couple of the many learnings the book has to offer in order to peak your curiosity and hopefully intrigue you into making the time investment to experience this resource first hand. Today's companies are having a team of people look at benefit packaging and creating a company profile that is attractive to prospective employees-especially talented employees. One of the things that Buckingham and Coffman warn about is that many companies do things that are effective for all employees. From their research they were able to extract information that was especially true for talented employees. They determined "talented" employees as those who seemed to be the most productive in terms of productivity measures and customer feedback. (There is an intense appendix for those who require supporting facts and data.) What they found was this : talented employees need great managers. "The talented employee may join a company because of its charismatic leaders, its generous benefits, and its world-class training programs, but how long that employee stays and how productive he is while he is there is determined by his relationship with his immediate supervisor." So, while your company is spending a lot of resources on employee retention and recruitment, for a return on investment your company would be wise to concurrently develop the leadership team to be talent savvy. Employee Satisfaction is now on everyone's radar. Organizations want satisfied employees because satisfied employees = satisfied customers. Now that that is understood, how does an organization gage employee satisfaction? There is much offered by Buckingham and Coffman to support this critical question. Through their research they have been able to extract the 12 most effective questions to gear how satisfied your talent pool is: 1. Do I know what is expected of me at work? 2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? 3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day? 4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work? 5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person? 6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development? 7. At work, do my opinions seem to count? 8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important? 9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work? 10. Do I have a best friend at work? 11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress? 12. At work, have I had opportunities to learn and grow. At first glance, I was surprised the first time I saw this list. Yet, when I thought about what is meaningful to myself as an employee, I nodded my head in agreement. Buckingham and Coffman explain what they learned from the process of gathering data from employees and how they determined these questions as being most effective for evaluating talent satisfaction. So, First get the book and take advantage of the research and learning provided by Buckingham and Coffman in First Break All the Rules. If time is an issue, the book is also available on audio cassette. Enjoy making positive impact on your employees and co-workers.

Livre qui synthétise des principes de base de management avec des exemples qui illustrent bien les subtiles différences entre les Great Managers et ceux qui vont le devenir. Et voilà tout ce que j'ai à dire ♥ Pizzirikaky

Interessante punto di visto sulle relazioni umane in azienda

Great book with examples, questionnaires & Frameworks!

A different, practícal and very interesting point of view about dealing with people's talent at work and team building! Great!

Livro seminal sobre gestão. Escrito há alguns anos, mas extremamente atual e muito útil.