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| Authors: Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
Buy Used: $6.46
You Save: $23.54 (78%)
New (65) Used (103) Collectible (5) from $6.46
Avg. Customer Rating:  258 reviews
Sales Rank: 681
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 255
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.3 x 1
ISBN: 0684852861
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.409
EAN: 9780684852867
ASIN: 0684852861
Publication Date: May 5, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great book for managers of people May 18, 2008
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.
Great Book for Managing Yourself and Otherr May 17, 2008
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
 Managerial Companion to "Now Discover Your Strengths" April 27, 2008
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.
First, Break all the rules April 20, 2008
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.
Read Immediately March 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
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