First, Break All the Rules

What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

By: Marcus Buckingham, Gallup Press, Jim Harter - foreword

Narrated by: Mel Foster

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Gallup presents the remarkable findings of its revolutionary study of more than 80,000 managers in First, Break All the Rules, revealing what the world’s greatest managers do differently. With vital performance and career lessons and ideas for how to apply them, it is a must-listen for managers at every level.

Included with this re-release of First, Break All the Rules: updated meta-analytic research and access to the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment, which reveals people’s top themes of talent.

What separates the greatest managers from all the rest?

They actually have vastly different styles and backgrounds. Yet despite their differences, great managers share one common trait: They don’t hesitate to break virtually every rule held sacred by conventional wisdom. They don’t believe that, with enough training, a person can achieve anything he sets his mind to. They don’t try to help people overcome their weaknesses. And, yes, they even play favorites.

In this longtime management bestseller, Gallup presents the remarkable findings of its massive in-depth study of great managers. Some were in leadership positions. Others were front-line supervisors. Some were in Fortune 500 companies; others were key players in small, entrepreneurial firms. Whatever their circumstances, the managers who ultimately became the focus of Gallup’s research were those who excelled at turning each individual employee’s talent into high performance.

Gallup has found that the front-line manager is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees. This book explains how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience, set expectations, build on each person’s unique strengths rather than trying to fix his or her weaknesses, and get the best performance out of their teams.

And perhaps most important, Gallup’s research produced the 12 simple statements that distinguish the strongest departments of a company from all the rest. First, Break All the Rules is the first book to present this essential measuring stick and to prove the link between employee opinions and productivity, profit, customer satisfaction and the rate of turnover.

First, Break All the Rules presents vital performance and career lessons for managers at every level—and best of all, shows you how to apply them to your own situation.

Please note: When you purchase this title, you will be emailed a unique ID that provides access to accompanying online material.

©1999, 2016 Gallup, Inc. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Gallup®, Clifton StrengthsFinder®, Gallup Press®, Q12®, Selection Research, Inc.™, SRI®, StrengthsFinder®, The Gallup Path®, and the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are trademarks of Gallup, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. The Q12 items are Gallup proprietary information and are protected by law. You may not administer a survey with the Q12 items or reproduce them without written consent from Gallup. © 1993-1998 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

Don’t Go With Your 1st Mind

So to basically sum this book up!! When it comes to how you want to treat or handle your people.. You must 1st realize “THEY ARE NOT YOU” and once you realize that you can begin to figure out what moves them and how they most likely need to be treated.

And that’s as simple as that.. However the book is fantastic and it has more details on how you can measure to see if you have the right fit for your company.

But other than that; this is the basics of the book

great reading for all managers

Loved this book and made it easy for a full.time working mom to be able.to listen to it well.driving. had a lot of good bullet points. higher for.talent put in correct role. biggest was they dont care how much you know till they know how much you care.

Great knowledge

Fantastic work that needs to be in the hands of anyone looking to truly take themselves and their organization to another level. Read it several times, learn it. Implement and grow.

Awesome book for anyone!

This is an awesome book for anyone wanting to understand how to hire and manage the right people. It is a real eye opener on finding and developing people rather than settling for warm bodies that do a job.

Best business book

I’ve read every business book I can get my hands on. This one is in my top 3, maybe the best.

Strong research and good depth

This book combines strong statistical evidence with practical advice. Combines aspects of business organizational behavior and psychology to great effect.

A new perspective.

Loved listening to this book. Gave me new insight on how to handle a team I inherited at work.

I used to think managers were not optimal leaders.

This helped me re-frame my thoughts on powerful management. If your a leader... Read this!

Best management book I have read

Based in data but explains how to apply it too. Highly recommend for any CEO, leader and manager

A freight train of insight backed by research

If you could interview top management talent in the country, wouldn't you do it? Someone has already taken the time and compiled the findings at a broad scale. They also interviewed average managers and went on to explain the differences.

I'm impressed with this book. I would be curious of the opinion of CEOs and HR directors looking to move obstacles out of the way for their management talent. Could be impactful. The material applies universally. It's not meant to be a guide book, but it explains the circumstances needed for high performing outcomes.

It unapologetically throws away some naive assumptions you may find alarmingly instilled in your own company's culture, like the error of basing performance on reaching average instead of excellence, or that all employees should be treated the same. It's a welcome contrasting perspective and may challenge some of your own beliefs..... be ready.