First, Break All the Rules

I’m a compulsive reader - I read whatever I can lay my hands on. I also like business management titles. So when I happened upon the book “First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently”, it didn’t take me long to get from front cover to back.

This book is not about specific techniques; rather, it strives to lay down the basic principles of successful management. As such, although it was published in 1999, it doesn’t feel a day old.

Two main ideas form the basis of this book. First, employee retention is determined in large part by the relationship between employees and their immediate managers: “An employee may join Disney or GE or Time Warner because she is lured by their generous benefits package and their reputation for valuing employees. But it is her relationship with her immediate manager that will determine how long she stays and how productive she is while she is there” (p. 36).

Second, great managers see people as individuals with unique talents and motivations, and treat each person differently. They also believe that people can’t change much. Thus, rather than swim upstream and try to fix people’s weaknesses, great managers focus on creating an environment where everyone’s unique talents [1] are put to best productive use. Great managers know that the key to excellent performance is simply finding the match between a person’s talents and his role.

Sounds like common sense? Of course. The big deal about this book is that it’s assertions are backed by lots of data from the Gallup Organization. Over a million employees from a broad range of companies, industries and countries were interviewed. The numbers indeed prove that employees who have great managers perform significantly better than those without; other factors do not affect performance as much.

I like this book as I feel vindicated by it. For years I had been miscast in a role that required talents I didn’t have. Plus my immediate supervisor was an excellent manager of things but not of people. Needless to say, putting my heart and soul into the company was the least of my priorities.

If it’s so obvious, why is it the norm for corporate employment to suck? Now that we know how to ensure employee happiness, productivity and loyalty, why isn’t something being done about it? Well, if people can’t change that much, then non-great managers can never become great managers. And great managers are very few and far between. Should only great managers be allowed to become managers, there’ll be zillions of management posts unfilled. So we’re forced to put non-great managers in managerial positions. Therefore, if you find yourself working with a non-great manager, tough luck; either switch jobs until you find one, or just take it as part and parcel of working life.

To put things in perspective, the large corporation is actually a very new phenomenon, made possible by the elevator, the telephone, the typewriter, and the cyclostyle. For thousands of years, people who weren’t slaves were largely freelancers - hunters, farmers, traders, ironsmiths, bricklayers, carpenters. The middle manager who doesn’t really produce anything except memos and meetings simply did not exist. So perhaps that is why things don’t seem to be in equilibrium in terms of management and employment - the human race simply hasn’t had enough time to settle down and find the natural way forward.

So what are the rules that great managers break? They don’t subscribe to well-meaning but self-blame-inducing platitudes such as “believe in yourself, work hard, and you can do anything”. They don’t develop people by identifying “areas for improvement”. And they’re quick to fire people who are unable to perform.

Notes

1. Talent is defined as a recurring pattern of thought, feeling or behaviour that can be productively applied; the behaviours you find yourself doing often (p. 71).

26 September 2007 | Book review | Comments