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Summary: They've sliced across the spectrum
Review: There are several management books that profile a few particular organizations (say Southwest Airlines, or Ford), analyze what they do right and do wrong, and draw conclusions from it. But the organization you work for may be different from the ones profiled, and it is a debatable point if those conclusions can work as effectively in your setting. But in this book, the authors have profiled 80,000 managers over 25 years from all kinds of companies -- from humble start-ups to established, Fortune 500 giants. This makes their observations and conclusions very interesting. A thought provoking book.
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Summary: Need to read
Review: If you are a manager read the book
Rating:
Summary: Informative and Authoritative
Review: Boy, Marcus and Curt are hard working boys. Not only did they take the time to interview 80,000 managers, but they also compiled figures on customer satisfaction, profit, productivity and staff retention. Then they asked, what are the best business units, and the best managers, doing differently? This book gives the answers.It's one thing to be able to manage tasks - but that's not the role of a manager. Any administrator or support person can manage tasks. Great managers know that when you manage people, the tasks get taken care of. However, the gift of managing people is, unfortunately, a rare commodity. This book gives clear, concrete steps on how to manage people, and in the process, become a Great Manager of a Great Team. I believe that along with will, tenacity and the right tools, this book is an excellent start to anyone wishing to become a Great Manager.
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Summary: The Best in 15 years
Review: This book is by far the best book on management and organizational growth that I have read in the past 15 years. My favorite book for many years was Bennis & Nanus' "Leaders". This ranks right up there. I've read a lot of management, leadership, and employee development books. The research this book is based on led the authors to clearly state something which makes a great deal of sense. I appreciate the 12 questions which capture the most information about employee satisfaction. I can use this every six months to measure and plan. The single greatest insight I used immediately was the distinction of "hiring for talents" and helping people grow in their inherent talents. It was so well stated that I immediately used the list at the back of the book in an interview question for hiring skilled professionals. Many thanks to the Gallup organization and the authors for writing one of the most useful books I've ever found on this subject.
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Summary: "Tough Love" in the Workplace
Review: Buckingham and Coffman explain "what the world's greatest managers do differently." Their conclusions are based on research accumulated over a period of 25 years, conducted among more than 1,000,000 respondents, including 80,000 managers. Here are three key findings: People don't change that much. Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in. According to this research, the world's greatest managers: 1. Do not believe that "anyone can do anything." 2. Do not try help others to overcome their weaknesses. 3. Consistently disregard the Golden Rule. 4. When necessary, they play favorites. 5. Select for talent needed now and in the future. 6. Carefully define the right outcomes. 7. Focus on each person's strengths inorder to.... 8. Find the right fit [ie of organizational needs with talent strengths] What Buckingham and Coffman are advocating is the equivalent of "Tough Love" and they make a compelling, for me convincing case in support of it. One of the book's most important contributions is the set of 12 questions which any organization should ask of everyone involved in it. To organize these questions in appropriate clusters, the authors use a mountain-climbing metaphor: Base Camp: "What do I get?" (Questions 1-2) Camp 1: "What do I give?" (Questions 3-6) Camp 2: "Do I belong here?" (Questions 7-10) Camp 3: "How do we all grow?" (Questions 11-12) If anyone can answer each of the 12 questions positively, progressing from Base Camp through Camp 3, she or he has reached "The Summit." According to the authors, as noted, the greatest managers do share this in common: "Before they do anything else, they first break all the rules of conventional wisdom. They do not believe that a person can achieve anything he sets his mind to. They do not try to help a person overcome his weaknesses. They consistently disregard the Golden Rule. And yes, they even play favorites." If you have already reached "The Summit", congratulations! Otherwise, I urge you in the strongest terms possible to read and then re-read this book. There is so much to be learned from the world's greatest managers and Buckingham and Coffman provide it in a single volume.
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Summary: Great Book - Highly Recommended to Anyone who Manages People
Review: I hate how-to books relating to business. This is not a how-to book. This book is a sociological study on what great managers do to keep their teams motivated and empowered. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Keep great managers & add 12 Key Questions to your tool bag.
Review: Learning organizations, and companies shifting in that direction, would do well to have decision makers read this book. Most CEOs and managers will have plenty to think about or to review with others after reading this book. Buckingham and Coffman offer us a useful reference tool based on 25 years of Gallop Organization data. Interviews with over 80,000 managers were analyzed, and the authors present their findings to the public quite clearly and succinctly. They offer us 12 Key Questions for use in hiring processes, CIP, and for overall measurement of the healthiness of the work place. These 12 Key Questions are precisely worded, rationale for the precise question phrasing is provided, and many examples for use and implementation are provided. Buckingham and Coffman also present a strong case for creating sustained profits through developing an engaged workforce. They clarify the role of manager and the significance of that role. ** If you are about to create a 'lean & mean' organization by eliminating manager positions, I encourage you to read this book before finalizing decisions. **If you have already run that course and find that conventional wisdom was not THE answer, you may find this book offers fresh insight. Several of our corporate coaching clients indicate that this book's quantitative and qualitative data adds significant validity to their reports and enhances the book's usefulness in corporate circles.
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Summary: The best advice is common sense
Review: Written in no-nonsense terms, this is the best book I've read on business since The Cluetrain Manifesto. Rather than force-feeding you some ridiculous method of measuring "Human Capital" or creating a "Knowledge Organization" these gentlemen have gone back to basic lesons to prove what is very obvious - "It's the People, Stupid! As a first-time manager responsible for a small but growing sales group, I am already using the lessons I've learned to improve my team's dynamics. This is the best type of strategic reading: A business book that you can immediately apply to your work life!
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Summary: You don't know what you don't know!
Review: 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.
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Summary: How this book changed my life
Review: After reading this glorified hype manual about how to effectively manipulated humans so they are more productive and efficient, I resigned from my position as vice-ceo of a large firm I cannot name. Why? There is more to life than wasting away by exerting your energies on the dynamics of "business". Every day for the last 15 years all I've done is maximize profit for a wealthy few (including myself) by generating services and products that have absoutely no benificial effect on the greater good of humankind. Why do I care about other people? Poor people? Oppressed people in other countries who serve as slave labor for companies in my great nation? People who are murdered for wanting to be free? People who are imprisoned because they had no recourse in a system that excludes them? Why not! From this point on I volunteer and assist social causes, environmental causes, and causes that advance worker's rights and protection all over the globe. It's more legitimate than what I was doing. It's real and has measurably good effects on all people. I won't get a fat paycheck anymore, but I'll finally feel like a human being. No more race to the bottom for me.
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