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

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.


You don't know what you don't know!   July 28, 2000
 42 out of 43 found this review helpful

I found this book valuable as it was based on research with over 80,000 managers, not just one person's personal experience. As a manager, the 12 questions that define a great place to work helped me step back and identify what type of environment I am creating for my employees --- or failing to create. Reading the book has led to some very open discussions with my direct reports on those issues. I especially liked the six questions for a review that turn a brief look at past performance into a discussion about what the person needs to do to move forward. I included those questions in my reviews this year.

In our department's people development, we often focused primarily on where people need to improve. The authors gave a different perspective on leveraging strengths and managing around weaker areas.

I also liked the definition of "manager" vs. "leader". Too often management skills are seen as inferior to leadership, yet this book showed that they are separate skill sets. I've got a ways to go with both skill sets, but now have somewhat of a blueprint for how to move forward. This book has helped me look at what I am doing to impact the quality of our work environment.


A new perspective   March 13, 2004
 41 out of 45 found this review helpful

What appealed to me about this book is that it offers a new perspective to succeed in a new world. Today, we have to be able to bend, stretch and flex to reach our goals.

First Break All The Rules gave me a new perspective on management and I am already reaping rewards by implementing new strategy.

Excellent book.


Data-Driven Conclusions   April 11, 2001
 39 out of 41 found this review helpful

Management books are everywhere. They espouse a great many theories. Often they explain what has worked well for one corporation, industry, or professional field. The books share the secrets of success as understood by that shining example. The data consists of their productivity indicators. But what may work well for one, may not work for another.

The book First, Break All the Rules by Buckingham and Coffman has the data. It is a research-based analysis of over 80,000 managers in over 400 companies. Their conclusions are the result of their data analysis rather than the other way around.

The essence of the book consists of 12 questions that have a high degree of statistical reliability in predicting organizational productivity and success. Buckingham and Coffman then go on to offer four keys to receiving a high score from employees. The keys break with conventional thinking and rules of operation: talent is more important than qualifications; outcomes are more important than process; treat every employee differently; and throw out the career ladder.

I highly recommend this book. It has substantially changed my management style.


A New Age of Management   November 7, 1999
 38 out of 53 found this review helpful

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman reinforce what I already knew was true to begin with: the company that I work for, and the majority of other companies, are managed ineffectively.

What seperates the great manager from the mediocre manager is the ability to recognize and develop talented individuals from the initial point of employment. Where I work, this simple policy is ignored. My company fails from the start by promoting employees to managerial positions based on personal friendships, political motives, and the understanding that the new manager will adhere to the rules. I'm sorry to say it, but I have witnessed several instances in my place of employment where an individual who was talented, but independant in his/her thinking, was refused promotion to management because it was feared that he/she was the type who would break the rules.

After the newly hired manager takes over, there are inevitable problems. My company tries to train the new manager to perform his/her role effectively, but there isn't much improvement because the individual was miscast from the beginning. The talent to manage was never there. And, because the manager is incompetent, he/she is likely to hire employees who are also incompetent. These employees eventually become inept, but loyal, managers in the future. The chain remains unbroken.

This book also speaks out about the importance of rewarding positive behavior. I can recall several occasions where rewards have been given to weak performers. I have been highly critical of this practice, but it still continues. The reason for rewarding bad behavior, I'm told, is to motivate below average employees. This is counter-productive for two important reasons: First, it encourages the weak performer to remain weak; second, it frustrates and discourages the excellent employees. Why should a highly motivated employee waste his or her time if a weak employee gets the recognition?

Conventional wisdom, and the ineffective management that it breeds, are going to take a good amount of time to change. My company is notorious for resisting change, promoting based on political reasons, and then refusing to remove inept managers from their positions. These "inner circles", "buddy systems", etc, are commonplace throughout corporate America. My company is not the only one with these problems. The majority of companies have the same problems.

I think the time has come for management to drop these conservative ideas and pave the way for a new, aggressive approach to management. The results of great management are too obvious to ignore any longer.