Nutshell review - a good book with good insights and advice but, as is the norm for this type of book, filled lots of case studies as page fller.

You can't take the title seriously (some Amazon reviewers do). The book is about what Gallup has found makes effective managers of people during its research for various clients over 10+ years. The central theme is that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Nothing new there. What is new, is their research that shows (a) an individual's strengths are real workforce multipliers, (b) effort spent to develop strengths really pays off, while (c) effort spend to "fix" weaknesses at best will result in mediocrity and is thus wasted effort. Ergo, a company which focuses on improving what its employees do well will (financially) outperform a company that spends its efforts on "fixing" its employees flaws.

Unlike other top 10 business books, it tells you how to accomplish creating a company built on employee strengths. I really liked the chapter devoted to interviewing for finding a prospective employees strengths. Very pragmatic. Be warned - after reading it you will likely be even more disappointed with your own management than you could have thought possible.

The book provides a code which you can use to go to Gallup's site and take the Strength's Finder survey. I highly recommend you do this ASAP, before reading the book, and before reading too many reviews. I suggest this because I found I could infer what some questions were testing, and that had to have influenced my answers.

Obviously the target audience is the manager. The follow-on book "Now, Discover Your Strengths" fills in some gaps. For this reason I generally recommend reading the follow-on book first if you have the time to read both books.

I'd recommend First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently to all new managers - well, to all managers for that matter. The first point the book makes is that who you work for is more important than the company you work for, your job description or even your paycheck. I agree, 100%. "We have said that an employee may join a company because of its prestige and reputation, but that his relationship with his immediate manager determines how long he stays and how productive he is while he is there. We have said that the manager is the critical player in turning each employee's talent into performance. We have said that managers trump companies."

The next main point they make is that everyone is different and you should spend your time finding the perfect role for them and the perfect way for them to accomplish their goals. Don't waste your time trying to improve your employees' weaknesses. Get them the skills they need or find them the resources or partnerships they need, and put them in the right roles - where their talents and drives match the job they have. They break talents and skills into skills, knowledge and talents. The first two are teachable but "talents" are inherent. I saw their talents more as drivers. A talent was more than just what you are good at but what motivates you do what you do well.

The authors define 12 questions that measure the key things needed to attract and keep good employees:

What do I get?

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?

What do I give?

1. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
2. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
3. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
4. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

Do I belong here?

1. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
2. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
3. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
4. Do I have a best friend at work?

How can we all grow?

1. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
2. This last year have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

According to the authors, managers should spend their time making sure the first two sets of questions are answered: "what do I get?" and "what do I give?" They also point out that most organizations aren't set up to treat people like individuals (in the sense that we all have different talents) - instead they try to get everyone to do a job well in the same way - nor to reward people in their current role without promoting them out. They offer suggestions for how managers can work within existing company policies. They also provide a section on what to do if your manager is still working on becoming a perfect manager - a section how to manager yourself and help your manager work best with you.

First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently is well worth reading for anyone who is a manager, aspiring to be a manager or frustrated with their current manager.

This is a great book for anyone who manages people, be it one or many. The concepts in this book could flow over into your personal life as well.

I use this book in combination with StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths in my MBA courses. First Break All the Rules is terrific for overcoming the myths that stymie managers, chief among them, fix your weaknesses and those of others. Instead, First Break All the Rules correctly advises managers to focus on their strengths, and to develop their subordinates' strengths, in order to maximize performance. Their finding that strengths-based management is better than overcoming weaknesses remains highly relevant a decade later, and I'm sure will be so decades hence.

Aneil

Having read and enjoyed Buckingham's "Now Discover Your Strengths" and having accepted his central premise that we're all gifted and gifted differently, this book felt intuitive. It introduces this main idea of unique giftedness ("talents" in Buckingham's vernacular), accepts it, and then asks how we ought to manage accordingly. This conclusion is built on a massive amount of Gallup research, and a number of helpful quotes and anecdotes result.

The four keys that the authors identify are: (1) Select for Talent; (2) Define the Right Outcomes; (3) Focus on Strengths; and (4) Find the Right Fit. Again, these are just build on the recognition that we're all unique: we can't do all jobs equally well (though we can adjust to certain things and learn other skills); we're going to reach the outcome in a way suited to our talents so don't try to micromanage the process); our greatest potential lies in leveraging our talents; and don't promote someone into a role that doesn't fit. Hints and tips (to be applied in your own, personal way) are littered throughout.

Whether you manage or are managed (or both), this is a good, helpful read.

Paradigm buster. After you finish this get the rest of the books related to this project: Now Discover your strengths; Strengthsfinder 2.0 and Go put your strengths to work.

If your work involves employees, managers or ownership in a business of any size, get this book and read it immediately.

The book is based of the "largest study of its kind every undertaken." And the conclusions from this study are very important. It is difficult today for most business to have a competitive edge in products or services. The last great resource for distinguishing one business from another is human capital - the employees. But most businesses manage by conventional wisdom.

But as Marcus Buckingham points out so thoughtfully, conventional wisdom is often wrong. He does not advance theories based on what he thinks but on interviews with thousand of managers from hundreds of companies. And the data is convincing. There is a direct connection between outstanding managers and company performance. There are hundreds of specific examples of outstanding managers at work.

The book is well written and easy to read. However the book contains so much great information, it will be necessary to read it more than once. I completed it and immediately read it again. I will keep it handy to refer too often.

If you want to improve your company, you must make sure that you have the right talent in the right spots. Too often owners/managers think that anyone can be trained to do anything. A recurring theme of the book is that great managers reject this bit of conventional wisdom. Instead they understand that "good managers don't try to put in what was left out. They try to draw out what was left in." They find the talents unique to each individual employee and turn those talents into results. They do not try to fix an employees weaknesses, they concentrate on developing their strenghts.

A very important book that is a guide to getting the best out of your employees and by extension getting the best out of your company.

Managing is hard work! Every week I coach managers in business, government and non-profits who are frustrated by how to get the work done by their direct reports so they can do their jobs and meet their boss' expectations. How-To-Manage books are a dime a dozen and frequently imprecise and unhelpful. So I was very pleased to find "First Break All the Rules," by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman to recommend and use with my clients. Based on extensive Gallop Organization research this book delivers value by laying out what great managers really do in an easy, concise manner.

According to the authors, through the well-intentioned efforts of training departments and consultants corporate America undertook a campaign to transform managers into leaders. This was done by promoting certain leadership skills in managers such as focusing on complex initiatives like re-engineering and removing other more basic functions such as staff development. They assert this shift has taken the most important functions of managers away resulting in a management void. In addition the shift ignored developing the most important leadership skills required so managers could succeed at leading down, such as recognizing individual skills and talents of their directs, resisting uniformity by capitalizing on differences and creating opportunities for each person on their team to become more of who s/he already is.

The authors succeed at designing skills assessment that can serve to support developing great managers and great downward leaders simultaneously by identifying the 4 keys of great managers and 12 questions to ask direct reports. The manager's goal is to receive "strongly agree" answers to the questions, in progressive ascending order from 1 through 12. This framework gives managers, HR departments, employees and organizations the information they need to attract, keep and develop the best managers.

This book comes in hard and paperback and in one of my favorite formats - audio CD, in this case unabridged. While it would be great to have a hard copy of the 12 questions there is not a lot that would be lost by listening to this book. So if you're busy and have multi-tasking time while you cook or exercise by all means get the CD. Of course, if you're like me you'll want to own the book so you can underline the concepts and make lots of notes in the columns. Either way this is a great resource for developing great managers!

Backed by the Gallup Organization's data, this book takes an empirical look at the composition of great managers. Even though managers and subordinates have different backgrounds and beliefs this book ties together the common theme on how great managers manage. For me, it brought to light a number of management myths. On myth is to focus on the non-talents of your personnel. The truth is talent cannot be trained. Capitalize and focus on the talents of your personnel and you will attain higher results with satisfied employees.

This book identifies twelve great questions that get to the root of assessing employee satisfaction. I have seen a couple of these questions in employee surveys. The questions are based on four themes. "What do I get?" "What do I give?" "Do I belong here?" "How can we all grow?"

Marcus and Curt established keys to be a great manager: "Select for Talent", "Define the Right Outcomes"; "Focus on Strengths"; and "Find the Right Fit". In addition, the book identifies how to create an atmosphere that will help great managers prosper. The information provide to me in this book will be valuable to me in the future when I acquire a management position. Every current or future manager should read this book.

This is my favorite series of books on identifying talent. I've made my recruiters read it. I quote it in training classes I provide to managers on interviewing skills. This is based on the Gallop Poll researcher ideas that resulted in the hiring system that Disney and other great companies use to select the right talented individuals. There is a link in the book to take the assessment yourself. Their website also contains useful articles.

The basic idea is that if you identify what your true strengths are, and then use them, you'll be more successful in all areas of your life. To identify talents in interviews we're lookinng for the first answer provided. If the candidate's first answer is a specific illustration he/she probably has that talent!

Other than present the findings of the research studies by the Gallop organisation, I'm not sure what aim the authors had for "First break all the rules". The title sounds like a "how to" book, yet the introduction does not suggest this.

Chapter one sets out the research results, Chapter two debates what the authors term "conventional wisdom". The remaining chapters, based on the "4 keys" to successful management, do indeed become a "how to".

Chapter one is excellent. The 12 questions developed from the research study with over 105,000 managers are practical and make good common sense. However, they are not new. If one looks at the work of writers such as Frederick Herzberg, these pointers have been around at least since the 1970s. In fact, they can be quite well mapped to Herzberg's theory of motivation (motivators and satisfiers).

I had a real problem with chapter two. I'm not sure where the authors have been for the last 30 years and I'd also question whether they have ever been managers themselves. Their description of "conventional wisdom" (which they do quite correctly proceed to debunk) could not be further from reality.

The authoritative writers, management teachers, trainers and indeed managers that I know of would hardly describe any of the following as "conventional wisdom":
* Treat all people the same, do not differentiate
* Anyone can be anything they want to be if they just try hard enough
* The manager must "seize opportunity, using his smarts and impatience to exert his will over a fickle world."

And there are more examples which are not worth repeating.

What Buckingham and Coffman suggest managers do in chapters, 3,4,5,6 & 7 which they call "breaking the rules" has been taught in all the enlightened management training organisations and by experienced management trainers for at least the last 30 years.

There is nothing new here, though if a manager wants a very good checklist of the things he or she should be doing, buy the book for chapter one.

Bob Selden, author What To Do When You Become The Boss: How new managers become successful managers

Conventional business wisdom is that you get ahead by changing your weaknesses to strengths, or at least improve on your weaknesses. This book turns conventional wisdom on its ear. In studying a large number of the greatest managers, the Gallup organization (of the Gallup Polls) finds the opposite to be true. The way to succeed and find fulfillment in your work is by identifying, recognizing and building upon your five key strengths. I found this somewhat mind-blowing, and probably would not have read this book if it hadn't been recommended to me by my mentor.

An important feature of the book is an in-depth study of 12 crucial questions that will help you determine whether you are well-situated in your work.

To determine your key strengths, there are two more books by the Gallup organization that allow you to first read up on the various types of strengths and then test yourself online. One nice thing about each of the other books is that each one includes an access code so that you can test yourself. That alone makes these books a good value.

I found this to eb an easy and enjoyable read. There are great examples and the book held my attention. I struggle to finish books but this one was very easy to get through.

I received the abridged audio book as a gift, and loved it so much I just had to own the hard copy. This is an insightful look at what makes a great manager, and the stumbling blocks that get in the way of achieving greatness.

This is the ultimate book on how to manage a staff. I advocate this book to everyone I meet including all my clients. I've put the principles to work successfully in managing a staff of 30. This book is a must read for everyone in business.

Every now and then you read a book that makes you pause and say "I never thought of it that way." This is one of those books. Don't miss it.

since 2001, i bought this book several times and gave some to all the people those need this book which i think is a great book to read, but you need to read the other two books [ Now Discover Your Strength and Go Put Your Strength to Work]because the Talent Themes and the Strength here are not fixed yet.
The Key of a Great Managers are the efective and intensif communication with their sub ordinates.
Effective because there are mostly talking about discovering sub ordinate Strength and find ways to channel it.
Intensif because they have a face to face meeting 1 hour every three month, not once a year during the performance appraisal.
This kind of communication create a very positif atmosfeer.

Anyone in sales or sales management needs to read this book. You will be encouraged to bring it into your bosses office and beat it on the desk until he or she reads it.

Good book to give managers something positive to think about and consider when dealing with people. What a unique concept to empower people by encouraging and nurturing strengths! I loved this book. Good to learn and be entertained at the same time. I think I would have like to heard more about direct stories from the best managers but it was great information.

This information is very well researched and clearly presented. Since most of these results were taken from a Gallup poll I recently took at my former company, I can vouch that a significant percentage of the questions are absurd, including one mentioned in this book. Do you have a best friend at work? And how that has anything to do with happiness on the job...

This audiobook explains you how to customize relationships with those who report to you. It's very practical info: everyone is unique and has specific talents that are greater in one than the other. I also appreciated the explanation of how so many managers end up being so pathetic -- especially if they are moved up because they're not very good in their current positions (or my favorites, they kiss butte or know the right people).

No one, by improving themselves dramatically, is trying to become a hero as claimed here...but I am glad Marcus spells out very clearly how it is impossible for a manager to get people to change (change is up to the employee). Props to Marcus for being one of the only authors I've actually enjoyed listening to on an audiobook. All well packaged and marketed with an attention-grabbing title.

This information is very well researched and clearly presented. Since most of these results were taken from a Gallup poll I recently took at my former company, I can vouch that a significant percentage of the questions are absurd, including one mentioned in this book. Do you have a best friend at work? Laughable, and how that has anything to do with my happiness on the job or how good my manager is will never matter to me.

This audiobook explains you how to customize relationships with those who report to you. It's very practical info: everyone is unique and has specific talents that are greater in one than the other. I also appreciated the explanation of how so many managers end up being so pathetic -- especially if they are moved up because they're not very good in their current positions (or my favorites, they kiss butte or know the right people).

No one, by improving themselves dramatically, is trying to become a hero as claimed here...but I am glad Marcus spells out very clearly how it is impossible for a manager to get people to change (it's their own decision, but not impossible as this book claims). I'm also glad that Marcus isn't my manager. Props to Marcus for being one of the only authors I've actually enjoyed listening to on an audiobook. All well packaged and marketed with an attention-grabbing title. The best advice for managers anywhere is to be REAL. Thanks.

An evidence-based book demonstrating the performance benefits of relational leadership. In this captivating and engaging read, Gallup Organization researchers Buckingham and Coffman show how good leadership taps individual identity (At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?), is relational (Does your supervisor seem to care about you as a person?), and demands accountability (Do you know what is expected of you at work?). These management elements and the several others described are not necessarily conventional wisdom, but clarified as they are in this book, they ring of good old common sense. After nearly 10 years on bookstore shelves, this book speaks more common sense than ever. This book is highly recommended for everyone -- if you have read it more than 5 years ago, read it again.

My son had just been made a manager of a large multi-location furniture and appliance and tv company. I purchased (First, Break all the rules) for him to give him some insight to being a manager. He devoured the CD's and called for more.
I choose the same author and purchased more of his work. Thanks for having this quality product available.

Whoever wrote the description of this book on cd did a great job. It was the reason I bought it.

Heard FIRST, BREAK ALL THE RULES by Marcus Buckingham
and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization . . . it was the report
on a massive in-depth study of great managers across a wide
variety of situations, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to
key players in small, entrepreuneurial firms.

It got me thinking about the difference that effective leadership
at the top can make and how, unfortunately, this doesn't
happen as much as it perhaps should.

Many of the ideas I've come across before . . . yet it wasn't until
I heard the spin placed on them by the authors that I came to the
realization that though they were seemingly basic, implementation
of them isn't always quite so simple.

Also, I realized that most of the ideas can easily be applied to great
parenting, great running of virtually any club or organization, etc.

For instance:
* Best managers don't treat everybody like they want to be
treated. Instead, they treat each employee as how he or she wants
to be treated.

And to find this out is easy:
* Just ask!

Among the other valuable tidbits I gained from listening were these:
* Effective managers spend their most time with their best people.

* Great managers know that any attempt to impose one best
way is doomed to fail.

* Never try to perfect people.

* Great managers focus on the future with their people.

* When told an employee was late, great manager almost
always ask why.

Buckingham also did the reading of FIRST, BREAK ALL THE
RULES . . . I was so impressed with this book that I'm now going
to read his other works, including his latest: GO PUT YOUR
STRENGTHS TO WORK.

What separates Buckingham and his co-author from the crowded bookshelves is their reliance upon statistics instead of anecdotes. There are too many management books out there that tell you what to do without backing their words up, so this book is well worth the investment. The audiobook, narrated by Buckingham, is especially rewarding, since it's one you'll want to listen to every month to remind yourself that there is a better way to manage and that you need to stay on that path.

This book was on the shelf of the best manager I've ever had. This was my reason to pick up this book and I am glad I did. It helped me better understand what made him a great manager. It conjectures that each individual is unique and must be treated individually. In a world heading towards the Huxley anti-utopia where human resource is managed on an assembly line governed by unquestioned rules, this book launches a direct attack at conventional management wisdom and outlines how great managers successfully manage individuals by exception.

Like many popular management books, this is a one-concept book and it does not rest until it repeatedly drills the concept in, while invalidating all competing concepts. This is a limitation that must be embraced by the reader in order to benefit from this book.

The guys at Gallup have devised a great tool that identifies the top strengths of an individual. Read Now, Discover Your Strengths for more. This book builds on top of that underlying concept with the perspective of managing people. Although the findings of their interviews are presented well, the authors go a little overboard in bashing certain management idioms that are allegedly popular. Starting with the title selection for the book to repeated trashing of the presumed "rules", the authors have let themselves get distracted. Even if you look beyond their vested interest in doing so, the book may have been more effective if they chose to replace 80% of their criticism with more material from the 80K interviews conducted.

Gallup's theory about focusing on strengths and working around weaknesses is extremely powerful and effective. However, despite this being the primary area of expertise of Gallup Research, they seem to miss one fundamental point about strengths and weaknesses. They are two sides of the same coin and are not mutually exclusive things. Gallup does elaborate on the notion of "talent" - the repeated pattern of thoughts that drive your behavior when presented with any situation indicate your inherent qualities a.k.a. talent. However, the theory does not go the extra step to connect the dots - the very talent that shows up as strengths in certain situations is exactly what shows up as weaknesses in certain other situations. Instead of treating strengths and weaknesses as the unifying function of talent and context, Gallup's work treats them as two separate sets of attributes of an individual.

Had it not been for the immensely powerful concepts that this book and other Gallup Research books illustrate, I would not resist my temptation to take away more stars. This book is a keeper.

Great book for analyzing how to manage others, and develop keener abilities into why some in management excel and achieve superior results and others never build on what they inherit. There is a buffet of statistics to back up the analysis and add credibilitiy. This is a fine addition to anyone's library of self-improvement books to be more efficient and effective in business.

Likewise, the employee can intuitively reverse engineer the information and make his performance more in tune with superiors, and set himself up for moving up the ladder. Great book.

This is a great book with outstanding information, the research involved and sheer numbers of people that participated is mind boggling.

In quantum physics, one of the competing theories that explains the nature of the universe is called m-theory, or (I hear) membrane-theory. In business literature and specifically HR or employee satisfaction related literature, there is an equivalent m-theory, called management-theory or the might-mean-many-meanings-theory. Neither a rigorous natural science, nor an elevated art form, management theory often consists of generalizations, cliches, obvious truths, dogmas, and meta-patterns of meta-patterns that describe 'what should be'.

As a contra-example of good management-theory, this book is about 'what works'. The authors use 12 very basic and brutally honest questions as the yardstick for organization to measure the success of their employee engagement, and based on the ideal/wished for results for these 12 questions, outline various 'things to do' for practicing managers.

Being a practicing manager for 3 years now, I found this book to be quite insightful, to the point, jargon-free, and applicable to my work challenges with my teams and executive management. I particularly found the examples of 'world class' bellboys, room cleaners, nurses, restaurant servers and other professionals to be both endearing and very effective. The examples from Southwest Airlines were expected, but nevertheless nice to re-read.

Some of my favorite lines (paraphrased) from the book?
1. Don't promote people to their level of incompetence
2. Create heroes at every level of the organization
3. Good nurses pause before that jab and say "Honey, this will hurt initially, but will be ok soon" not "Honey, this wont hurt a bit"!
4. Hire for talent, manage by outcomes, and get out of the way
5. The road to hell is paved with good intentions :)

I loved this book on tape -- I had a long trip so thought the book on tape was the way to go and wasn't dissappointed. I am not looking to be in management, so I was a little wary. I found the book to be insightful, helpful and couldn't wait for the next book. Having Marcus Buckingham read the book was an added bonus.

For the first time, the authors went to the source of what makes good employees and keeps them: first-line managers and supervisors. And what a revelation...the same things 'excellent' managers and supervisors knew all along. But now there are facts to back up the success of the best managers, facts that leaders can't ignore today, especially those leaders that question the value of the first-line manager and supervisor. From lower turnover to higher productivity, the talents of the best managers now have specific results to identify them with. And the authors have identified information that can be used in the future to select the best first-line suprvisor and manager, information that all businesses, no matter the industry or size of the organization, can use to be more successful and positively affect their bottom line.
Proably one of the most relevant management books the past 25 years!

Take heed senior leaders: first-line supervisors and managers are the key to your success and the key to finding the right supervisor and manager is in this book!

This was my first introduction to Marcus Buckingham
out side of meeting him at a event. I will say a job
well done. It's a excellent read if you are in any
management position or run any type of organization.

The concepts inside this are EXCELLENT! I especially
enjoyed the parts inside the book where they discuss
how they fit people into the right roles. Also, how
they talk about hiring for talent not experience.

Matt Bacak
Author of The Ultimate Lead Generation Plan
and Secrets of the Internet Millionaire Mind

"First" is the most interesting business book I have read in years! Besides outlining great ideas based upon years of research, the book does an excellent job at detailing how to implement similar practices within our own professions. A definite BUY rating on this one.

For any manager who sincerely wants to be more productive and create positive working relationships this is a "must" read. If you're comfortable with old paradigms ("We've always done it this way.") or aren't comfortable with change, then forget it!

For any manager who sincerely wants to be more productive and create positive working relationships this is a "must" read. If you're comfortable with old paradigms ("We've always done it this way.") or aren't comfortable with change, then forget it!

Some people need to be babied, some need to be fired. The "rule" that's broken? Treat everyone the same.

The book's true insights, however, are in their discoveries of what employees really want in a company: money? Not as much as an enriching environment with contribution to a cause. According to their extensive research, internal rewards trump dollars.

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

From the managerial stand-point, I generally concur that the following twelve questions outlined in the book certainly are very useful in helping to measure the vibrancy & productivity of a workplace:

1) Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2) Do I have the materials & 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 the opportunities to learn and grow?

I also reckon, from the perspective of career planning, the same twelve questions can serve as a self-questioning checklist for deciding on a planned career move, in terms of:

- what do I get?
- what do I give?
- do I belong here?
- how can we all grow?

I also like the author's 'mountain climb' metaphor in the book.

Overall, this book is very well-researched & beautifully crafted.

4 Stars.

First, Break all the Rules, by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, is an outstanding description of some great management practices. Grounded in extensive real-world research, including tens of thousands of interviews with both management and front-line personnel, this book presents some excellent contrarian advice on how to run an organization.

Several key ideas are presented in this book, and they run refreshingly against the grain of many more myopic and/or politically correct philosophies. Ideas such as hiring for talent and training for skills, giving more attention to higher performing employees, and focusing on strengths while (almost) ignoring weaknesses are simple, but often ignored, strategies for boosting an organization's performance.

Unfortunately, many leadership and management philosophies call for the hiring of the most educated and experienced candidate, treating everybody equally, and focusing on overcoming weaknesses (often to the detriment of strengths). The research that this book is based on shows us that the truly great managers out there ignore this latter advice in favour of the former.

Overall, the book is well organized and well written, although it could do with a bit less preachy self agrandizing ("We here at Gallup believe..." or some variant). But don't let that discourage you -- the advice provided is rock solid. The suggested strategies are tied to the research project and justified with thought experiments, anecdotes, and statistics from the real world.

Highly recommended to managers and front-line personnel.

I rarely have time for management books. I have never been past the first two chapters in any other of these books that I have tried. This book was a suggestion from a book list for a managment course I am taking. Being a little stubborn and oppositional, I liked the title right away. The content was also good enough to hold my interest. It does not read like other management books. It does not tell you to work magic and transform toads into princes. It does not say everyone should be good at everything. What it does say is to recognize who people are and match them up with jobs that work for them.

The reading in this book is really infomative. It gives managers a way of opening up their mind. Most manager will already know what is in this book but by reading it it will make your more aware and conscious of the things. I suggest this book.

I've read and listened to a great deal of management and business books and this one was just average. Nothing earth shaking nor groundbreaking. Good info if you are a "newbie" to management but for more advanced or knowledgable managers I would recommend the Jack Welch series of books instead.

This was the first book recommended to me when I became a manager. I cant' say that I manage exactly the way it recommends but it gives a good overview of why some seemingly wrong ideas still work. Not your typical do it this way and your always be right approach.

Loved it! All great managers have their own unique leasership syle. However, they all also are able to get similar results from their staff... very engaged committed, productive, high performance in terms of achieving bottom-line business results while providing great customer service. Lot's of great tips and advice on how to measure effective management... but my greatest lesson was thinking about the Peter Principle-people being promoted to their level of incompetence. Effective management is a gift and a skill. Just because a person is gifted at their task doesn't mean they will be a good manager... there really isn't a correlation at all. Have a great read!

This book help you to change or remain your way to handle your people.
It is depends on the people talent to improve our way to react to any sisutations facing to daily business life. We will understand that each people have a different things in their talent.

The Scientific Method applied to this book:

1) Form a hypothesis: Great managers do something differently than mediocre managers.
2) Conduct an experiment: Interview 80,000 managers.
3) Analyze data: ???this step is missing???
4) Draw conclusions: Write this Book.

With the exception of the "12 questions", the authors make no attempt to back any their conclusions with the results of their study. They make several insightful statements, such as "many managers say they would like to define the right outcomes." However, they do not even attempt to tell the reader how the study led them to this statement. Did 90% of the managers interviewed state this? Did 60% of the great managers state this while only 10% of the mediocre managers did? Does "many managers" mean 100 managers? 100 managers seems like "many managers" at first, but considering 80,000 were interviewed I 100 managers is a negligible amount. The entire book consists of several rational statements that are not supported by their study.

It seems to me that after conducting a huge study to find out what great managers do differently, the authors found almost no common trends. However, since they put a lot of money and effort into conducting the study, they needed something to show for it and wrote this book. If Buckingham and Coffman didn't claim this book was a result of "the largest study of its kind," I would say it offers some decent advice; however, since it does make this claim, I wish they would have back up their conclusions so the readers would be able to determine how valid they are.

This ia a worthwile read about people management. The author's take a non-traditional approach to people management and their points are usually sensible and logical. The fundamental point of this book is to identify the talent within the employee and how to harness that talent for the good of both the company & employee.

I must agree with the Amazon reviewer who said that if you could only read one business book, this should be it. It really should be required reading for all managers and supervisors, and definately a required read of all MBA students.

The most important advice: develop strengths, don't try to fix weaknesses. Some people will never improve in their weak areas, but can accomplish the world with their strengths. Learn to recognize and develop those strengths, and you will be managing a team that can do anything!

Jeff, JeffreyMonk.com

If you only were allowed to read ONE book on management....seriously...this should be the one you should read. I love books that fly in the face of conventional wisdom, I admit, but never have I read a book that does so in such an undeniably well-researched way.

If you think you should treat all of your people the same; if you truly believe that you shouldn't play favorites; if you really think you should help people improve their talents and let your superstars just do their thing, well then don't read First, Break all the Rules. It will be infuriating to be proven so inept at management.

If you have the talent to look inward and admit you've been wrong all these years and want to become great, then this book is for you.

The nuts and bolts are clearly laid out in the easy to grasp book. These particular nuts and bolts belong to an approach to managing others that emphasizes individual relationships, recognition of strengths and a flexible approach to rewards. The book's weaknesses are understandable - in a book format, how can you offer readers the type of individualized approach and personal strength identification the authors discuss?

The book's strength is the identification of a number of approaches that have worked for some of the best managers. If you start with a fair dollop of personal insight and add this instruction manual, you have a good shot at gathering one or two powerful new approaches to your managing toolbox. If the approach seems to fit your style get, Now Discover Your Strengths, and discover even more functional details.