The findings in this book would surprise many of us, who do self-development or others-development everyday. It would give you an effective framework in recruiting the right ones, setting the right goals, focusing on the strengths, and assigning the right roles to the subordinates. That'll help to bring the best out of them. What would surprise you is that you'll find many myths that you used to think it is right, but it is not from the findings of Gallup. ( )

I picked up this book because it was mentioned in some Forbes article I saw on things great managers do. On reading it, I saw that a lot of the stuff is things one would think are common sense. A lot of managers like to make like what they do is some mysterious, mystical thing or just something certain gifted people can do. It is not. It is dealing with people, and having the talent to deal with them well. So much of the advice in the book may seem common sense if you have such talent (or if you have been exposed to so many bad bosses and managers you just know they should be doing the stuff in the book instead). I did take a few notes, and I may write something a bit longer in my blog later. But in the end, the very simple gist of the book is this: hire the best people for their talent (not skills or knowledge. Those are important, but talent is the thing you need to look for since you can't teach talent), then do the best to make sure those folk can show you what they can do and let those talents flourish. Sure, set expectations and motivate, but if you select the wrong people, the rest will not fall into place. There is more, but there is the gist. ( )

Where the book makes its bones is in understanding and measuring talent. The authors offer creative ideas on incentive-based pay and advise that companies tailor incentive plans to the individual. ( )

“Swedbank” bankas Lietuvoje išleido jau devintąją knygą savo klientams - M. Buckingham ir C. Coffman “Pirma sulaužykite visas taisykles”. Tradiciškai prieš Kalėdas išleidžiamu pasauliniu verslo bestseleriu, bankas siekia pristatyti pasaulyje pripažinimą pelniusias verslo valdymo ir lyderystės idėjas bei prisidėti prie jų diegimo Lietuvoje.

Naujai išleista knyga yra paremta fundamentaliu tyrimu. Knygos autoriai, “Gallup” bendrovės darbuotojai, apklausė 400 įmonių, 1 mln. darbuotojų ir 80 tūkst. vadovų. Susumuoti apklausos rezultatai yra sutraukti į dvyliką paprastų klausimų, kurie skirti stipriausiam kompanijos padalinio nustatymui. Šioje knygoje pirmą kartą aprašoma veiksminga vertinimo priemonė, įrodanti darbuotojų nuomonės ir našumo, pelningumo, klientų pasitenkinimo bei darbuotojų kaitos sąsajas.

“Šią knygą pasirinkome todėl, kad ji ne tik kelia netradicinių idėjų, apie kurias, manau, ne vienas esame intuityviai mąstęs, bet ir pagrindžia jas solidžiu tyrimu, pavyzdžiais bei parodo, ką reiškia jų taikymas praktikoje. Knygoje pateikiamo tyrimo išvados verčia susimąstyti – net ir vienodomis verslo sąlygomis, naudojant vienodus išteklius, verslininkai gali atsidurti priešingose sėkmės diagramos poliuose. Knyga dar kartą patvirtina, koks svarbus verslo komponentas yra talentingi darbuotojai”, - apie knygą įspūdžiais dalijasi “Swedbank” banko Lietuvoje valdybos pirmininkas Antanas Danys. “Tikimės, kad vadovai ir specialistai, skaitydami šią knygą pasisems naudingų žinių ir pritaikys jas praktikoje, ugdydami įgūdžius ir sėkmingai plėtodami verslą Lietuvoje ar tarptautinėse rinkose”.

The Summary: Gallup interviewed thousands of managers to figure out who's great and who's average. What they found is great managers do not follow any rules and treat each case individually.

The Take Away: This was a tough book to read for two reasons -- it doesn't tell a story and better read in chunks and my personal circumstances.
The book stressed and emphasized that managers know their people, their situations at home and work. The circumstances that they face in each. Communication, trust and respect were core competencies of great managers -- and it went both ways.
Again and again it made me realize how bad things were in my own work life. There were twelve questions I wish I had jotted down. I meant to. But one of them was knowing your job and your role -- I know neither. And my newest supervisor seems reluctant to allow either to reach me. ( )