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

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The greatest managers in the world seem to have little in common. They differ in sex, age, and race. They employ vastly different styles and focus on different goals.

Yet despite their differences, great managers share one common trait: They do not hesitate to break virtually every rule held sacred by conventional wisdom.

They do not believe that, with enough training, a person can achieve anything he sets his mind to. They do not try to help people overcome their weaknesses.

They consistently disregard the golden rule. And, yes, they even play favorites. This amazing book explains why.

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization present the remarkable findings of their massive in-depth study of great managers across a wide variety of situations.

Some were in leadership positions. Others were front-line supervisors. Some were in Fortune 500 companies; others were key players in small, entrepreneurial companies.

Whatever their situations, the managers who ultimately became the focus of Gallup's research were invariably those who excelled at turning each employee's talent into performance.

In today's tight labor markets, companies compete to find and keep the best employees, using pay, benefits, promotions, and training.

But these well-intentioned efforts often miss the mark. The front-line manager is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees.

No matter how generous its pay or how renowned its training, the company that lacks great front-line managers will suffer.

Buckingham and Coffman explain how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience; how they set expectations for him or her -- they define the right outcomes rather than the right steps; how they motivate people -- they build on each person's unique strengths rather than trying to fix his weaknesses; and, finally, how great managers develop people -- they find the right fit for each person, not the next rung on the ladder.

And perhaps most important, this research -- which initially generated thousands of different survey questions on the subject of employee opinion -- finally produced the twelve simple questions that work to distinguish the strongest departments of a company from all the rest.

This book is the first to present this essential measuring stick and to prove the link between employee opinions and productivity, profit, customer satisfaction, and the rate of turnover.

There are vital performance and career lessons here for managers at every level, and, best of all, the book shows you how to apply them to your own situation.

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Editorials

	Amazon.com
	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... read full editorial
	From AudioFile
	First, Break All the Rules is the culmination of over 80,000 interviews conducted by The Gallup Organization. This is insightful work; no pundit-speak and no ivory tower theorizing. The authors stress that good managers... read full editorial
	Book Info
	Presents in-depth interviews by the Gallup organization of over 80,000 successful managers. Discusses how they select an employee; for talent rather than experience, set high expectations, and motivate employees through... read full editorial

Customer Reviews

	Great management book
	(MN United States) May 22, 2001 - 5.0/5 stars
	If you're a manager, if you work in human resources, or if your company hires managers and you are seeking criteria to hire great managers, you'll want to give "First, Break All The Rules: What The World's... read full review
	"Must" reading for anyone who manages people!
	(Lincoln, NE) March 24, 1999 - 5.0/5 stars
	This book is destined to become one of the top management books of the decade. Coffman and Buckingham offer keen insight into the "how-to's" of management in a post-modern world. Ideas like developing... read full review
	Do great managers think alike?
	(Wolverhampton, W. Midlands Great Britain) March 21, 2000 - 4.0/5 stars
	This is based on extensive research (80,000 managers, 1 million employees, 400 companies) so it is difficult to challenge its findings. Nevertheless, I was hoping for something a bit more radical.Great managers focus on... read full review

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