I just finished reading “First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently” by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.
It’s a pretty interesting book. The authors worked for the Gallup Organization, which aside from being famous for its political polls, does a lot of consulting work for big corporations. They did a lot of surveys where they tried to figure out what practices successful managers use that differ from other managers. What they found is that the greatest managers treat each person as an individual with their own particular set of talents and weaknesses and that they try to emphasize each person’s strengths. They don’t try to fix a person’s weaknesses; rather they concentrate on cultivating their talents. They identify four keys:
- Select for talent
- Define the right outcomes
- Focus on strengths
- Find the right fit
This is an extreme simplification of the book’s premises, but I do think that it’s worth the read if you are interested in this sort of thing.
I also recently finished listening to this audio CD set from the same author, Marcus Buckingham:
The One Thing You Need To Know : …About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success [ABRIDGED] (Audio CD)
It’s a 4 CD set with some really interesting insights about managing, leading, and individual success. It talks about:
- The difference between managing and leading
- Hiring for talent
- Giving praise
- Cultivating a person’s strengths
- How to keep employees motivated
- How leaders create a compelling vision of the future
- Maximizing individual success by concentrating on your talents and ridding from your life any activities that you don’t enjoy