Summary: First, Break All the Rules Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman

You know that at work tomorrow you are going to see a lot of people cast in the wrong roles

No matter which way you spin it, it’s hard being the middleman

. In other words, some companies don’t have just one culture right throughout -- they have as many cultures as they do managers

great managers create alternative career paths that more accurately match their employee needs

What did you enjoy most about your previous job?
What brought you here to work with us?
What keeps you here now?
What do you think your strengths are?
What are your weaknesses?
What are your goals in your current role?
How often would you like to meet to discuss progress?
What personal goals of yours should I be aware of?
What was the most meaningful praise you ever received?
Have you ever been in a productive partnership?
Why were those partnerships productive for you?
What are your long-term career goals?
What new skills are you keen to develop?
Are there any challenges you’d like to experience?
How can I help your career to move forward?
Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?

Talent, in this context, is not genius. It’s a recurring pattern of successful behavior that can be productively applied.

d:

What did you enjoy most about your previous job?
What brought you here to work with us?
What keeps you here now?
What do you think your strengths are?
What are your weaknesses?
What are your goals in your current role?
How often would you like to meet to discuss progress?
What personal goals of yours should I be aware of?
What was the most meaningful praise you ev

Main Idea

Managing employees productively is exceptionally hard to achieve. It takes a deft touch to be able to balance all the competing interests -- the company’s, the customer’s, the employee’s and the manager’s own interests to name just a few. Yet some managers consistently do just that, while others flounder and fail.
Over a 25-year period, the Gallup Organization surveyed employees and managers to try and identify the patterns of success great managers use. This analysis showed:
Great managers do not believe that every person, given enough training, can do anything they set their mind to.
Great managers do not, in fact, try and help people overcome their weaknesses.
Great managers play favorites, and treat their employees quite differently.
In fact, there emerged four keys that great managers use to draw exceptional performance from those they are responsible for:
Great managers select employees for their talents, not for their skills or experience.
Great managers set specific and high expectations -- they define the right outcome and leave the method up to the employee.
Great managers motivate by building on strengths rather than dwelling on or trying eliminate weaknesses.
Great managers find the appropriate career path -- the next rung on the corporate ladder -- for each employee.
If these keys to unlocking world-class performance work for the great managers, it makes sense for everyone interested in producing similar results to study these keys and implement them in the context of their own business requirement