Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman present the results of two major studies. One offers findings from polling more than a million employees about their workplace needs. The other is a 20-year study of how the methods of the world’s greatest managers differ from those of lesser managers. This study involved interviews with more than 80,000 managers from 400 companies, the largest such investigation ever undertaken. The authors found key differences that fly in the face of traditional thinking about successful managerial practices. This astute, well-written report presents the major principles of great managers, and offers examples of leaders who put their knowledge of effective management into practice. The book’s conclusions rest on in-depth research, not theory. This painstaking study authoritatively describes how employees feel about management and explains exactly what great managers do, and why and how they achieve top results.Recommended it to everyone who manages, wants to manage or is managed.

1. Some Impressionistic takes from the book
Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman’s
“First break all the rules”
by Ramakrishnan ( Ramki)
ramaddster@gmail.com

2. About the Authors
With over 1.6 million copies of his landmark
bestsellers in print, Marcus Buckingham,
author of bestsellers First, Break All the
Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers
Do Differently (with Curt Coffman) and Now,
Discover Your Strengths (with Donald O.
Clifton), spent his 15-year career as a
pioneering researcher and a global-practice
leader at the Gallup Organization, helping to
build a ballooning consulting practice at the
firm with more than 1,000 clients, including
Best Buy, Disney, Fidelity Investments,
Toyota, and Wells Fargo. Marcus Buckingham
has been featured in Fast Company
magazine.

3. Prelude
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman expose the fallacies of standard management thinking in
First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently.
In seven chapters, the two consultants for the Gallup Organization debunk some dearly held
notions about management, such as "treat people as you like to be treated"; "people are
capable of almost anything"; and "a manager's role is diminishing in today's economy." "Great
managers are revolutionaries," the authors write. "This book will take you inside the minds of
these managers to explain why they have toppled conventional wisdom and reveal the new
truths they have forged in its place."
The authors have culled their observations from more than 80,000 interviews conducted by
Gallup during the past 25 years. Quoting leaders such as basketball coach Phil Jackson,
Buckingham and Coffman outline "four keys" to becoming an excellent manager: Finding the
right fit for employees, focusing on strengths of employees, defining the right results, and
selecting staff for talent--not just knowledge and skills.
First, Break All the Rules offers specific techniques for helping people perform better on the job.
For instance, the authors show ways to structure a trial period for a new worker and how to
create a pay plan that rewards people for their expertise instead of how fast they climb the
company ladder. "The point is to focus people toward performance," they write. "The manager
is, and should be, totally responsible for this." Written in plain English and well organized, this
book tells you exactly how to improve as a supervisor.

4. People leave managers, not companies.
If you have a turnover problem, look first
to your managers.
 People don’t change that
much.
 Don’t waste time trying to
put in what was left out.
 Try to draw what was left in.
That is hard enough.
ESSENTIAL POINT: Great managers recognize that each person is motivated differently, that each person
has his/her own way of thinking, and own style of relating to others. Great managers know there is a limit to
how much remolding they can do to someone. They don’t bemoan these differences and try to grind them
down – instead they CAPITALIZE on them. They try to help each person become more and more of who
he/she already is.

5. 1. Do I know what is expected of me?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
Managers/Leaders encourage their team to know : “What do I get?”

6. 3.Do I have the opportunity to do what I do
best every day?
4.In the last seven days, have I received
recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work,
seem to care about me as a person?
6.Is there someone at work who encourages
my development?
Managers/Leaders encourage their team to know : “What do I give?”

7. 7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8.Does the mission of my company make me
feel my job is important?
9.Are my co-workers committed to doing
quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
Managers/Leaders encourage their team to know : “Do I belong here?”

8. 11.In the last six months, has someone
talked with me about my progress?
12.This past year, have I had opportunities
at work to learn and grow?
Managers/Leaders encourage their team to know : “How can we all grow?”

9. A great manager is
a CATALYST
Catalyst:
Ability to do four
key activities
REALLY well
1. Select the Person
2. Set Expectations
3. Motivate the Person
4. Develop the Person

10. 1. Select for Talent- not simply experience,
intelligence, or determination
2. Define the right outcomes - not the right steps
3. Focus on strengths- not on weaknesses
4. Find the right fit- not simply the next rung on the
ladder
A great manager is someone who says,
You come to work with me, and I’ll help you
be as successful as possible; I’ll help you
grow; I’ll help you make sure you’re in the
right role; I’ll provide the relationship for you
to understand and know yourself. And
I want you to be more successful than me.
The Four Keys of Great Leaders

11. Talent
 A recurring pattern of THOUGHT,
FEELING or BEHAVIOUR that
can be productively applied.
Filter
 A characteristic way of responding to the
world around us.
 It tells you which stimuli to notice and which
to ignore; which to love and which to hate.
 It is UNIQUE to you.
 Your filter and your recurring patterns of
behaviour are enduring.
 Your filter more than your race, sex, age or
nationality is YOU.
Key 1- Select For Talent

12. • Cannot be taught
• 4-line highways of your mind
• Recurrent patterns of thought, feeling or
behavioural
• Difficult to transfer
Talents
• Can be taught by breaking total performance
into steps
• “How to do” of a role
• Transferable
Skills
• Can be taught
• What you are aware of
• Factual knowledge – things you know
• Experiential knowledge – understandings
picked up along the way
• Transferable
Knowledge
Elements of Performance
Key 1- Select For Talent

13. Striving talents
The WHY of a person; why each person
is motivated to push and push just that
little bit harder
Key 1- Select For Talent
Thinking talents
The HOW of a person; how each person thinks, weighs
alternatives; comes to decisions
Relating talents
The WHO of a person; whom people trust; builds
relationships; confronts; ignores

14. Key 1- Select For Talent
How Leaders find Talent
Know what talents you are
looking for in width and depth
Keep reviewing & studying your
best people

15. How to manage by remote control
Leader’s dilemma:
How do you retain control
and focus people on
performance
When you know that you
cannot force people to
behave in the same way?
Key 2- Define the right outcomes

16. the temptation to Control!!
Key 2- Define the right outcomes
 I want Perfect People
 My people don’t have enough talent
 Some outcomes defy definition
 Trust is precious – it must be

17. What is right for
your customers?
What is right for
your company?
What is right for
the individual?
“Define the right outcomes and
then let each person find their
own route toward those
outcomes”
Key 2- Define the right outcomes

18.  Instead, you must select employees who
have the talent to listen and to teach, and
then you must focus them towards simple
emotional outcomes like partnership &
advice.
 If you manage to do this, it is something that
is very hard to steal.”
Key 2- Define the right outcomes
 “Forcing your employees to follow required steps only prevents
customer dissatisfaction.
 If your goal is truly to satisfy, to create advocates, then the step-
by-step approach alone cannot get you there.

19.  Focus on each person’s strengths & manage around the weaknesses
 Don’t try to fix the weaknesses
 Don’t try to perfect each person - Help each person become more of what
they all ready are
Key 3- Focus on Strength
Consider what happens when
performance is measured
against “excellent” performers
rather than the average.

20. Casting is everything
 If you want to turn talent into performance, you have to position each
person so that you are paying her to do what she is naturally wired to do.
You have to cast him/her in the right role.
 Everyone has the talent to be exceptional at something. The trick is to
find that ‘something.’ & in the casting.
Key 3- Focus on Strength

21.  No News kills behaviour
 It’s the fairest thing to do
 It’s the best way to learn
 It’s the only way to reach excellence
 Best way to break through the ceiling
Key 3- Focus on Strength
Invest most time with your best people

22. Key 3- Focus on Strength
Devise a support system
Find a complementary partner
Find an alterative role
Determine if poor performance is trainable
Determine if poor performance is not due to you as manager tripping
the wrong trigger!!
Determine if it’s a weakness or a non-talent
Managing around a weakness

23. Key 4- Find the right fit
A rung too far
 Most employees are promoted to their level of
incompetence. It’s inevitable. It’s built into the
system.
The problem with climbing the ladder
 One rung does not necessarily lead to another.
 The conventional career path is condemned to
create competition and conflict. Why not create
heroes in every role?
 Conventional ‘wisdom’ programmes employees
to hunt for marketable skills and experience to
climb to the next rung. This thinking is often
flawed.

24. Three career development fallacies
 Each rung of the “promotion ladder”, with just a little more
training – the employee will be able to repeat the success
on the rung above.
 Great managers know that one rung does not
necessarily lead to another
 Conventional career path is condemned to create conflict;
lots of people vying for limited opportunities
 Great managers have a better idea: Carve out
alternative career paths by conveying meaningful
prestige on every role.
 Varied experiences make the employee more attractive
 Self-discovery is the driving, guiding force for a
healthy career. Great managers know that it is this
search for a full understanding of your talents and
non-talents that serves as the source of energy
powering your career.
Key 4- Find the right fit

25.  “Before you promote someone, look closely at the striving, thinking and relating
talents needed to excel in the role.
 After scrutinising the PERSON and the ROLE, you may still choose promotion.
 Since each person is highly complex, you may still end up promoting someone
into a position where he struggles. No manager finds the perfect fit every time.
 But at least you will have taken the TIME to weigh the FIT between the
DEMANDS of the role and the TALENT of the person”.
Key 4- Find the right fit

26. Create Hero’s in every role
Set up levels of achievement for
Every role
For every role, define pay in broad
ranges, with top-end of lower-level
role overlapping bottom end of role
above
Set up ‘creative acts of revolt’
(special projects)
Key 4- Find the right fit

27. What great Leaders do
Level the Playing field
Hold up the Mirror
Create a Safety Net
Key 4- Find the right fit

28. “Tough love is a mind-set.
 An uncompromising focus on excellence with a genuine need to care.
 It focuses great managers to confront poor performance early and
directly
 It allows them to keep their relationship with the employee intact even if
the employee has to be “ let go”
Key 4- Find the right fit
 Understanding that each person
possesses enduring patterns of
thought, feelings and behaviour
liberates managers who have to
confront poor performance.
Because it frees the manager from
blaming the employee.”

29. Here are 15 pearls of wisdom in a nutshell from
First Break All the Rules

30. Know what can be taught, and
what requires a natural talent.
1. Know the employee’s talent

31. Standardize the end , but not the means.
As long as the means are within the company’s
legal boundaries & industry standards, let the
employee use his own style to deliver the result or
outcome you want.
2. Set the right outcomes, just not the steps

32. “The best managers never try to fix weaknesses;
instead they focus on strengths and talent.”
3. Motivate by focusing on strengths, not weaknesses

33. If an employee is not performing at excellence, maybe
he/ she is not cast in the right role.
4. Casting is important

34. Respect it enough to hire for talent to match.
5. Every role is noble

35. See if the candidate’s recurring patterns of behavior
match the role he is to fulfill.
Ask open-ended questions and let him talk.
Listen for specifics.
6. Excel in the art of the interview

36. Find ways to measure, count, and reward outcomes.
7. Result oriented

37. Give constant feedback/ feed forward.
If you can’t spend an hour every quarter talking to an
employee, then you shouldn’t be a Leader
8. Invest time with your (best) People

38. There are many ways of alleviating a problem or non-
talent. Devise a support system, find a complementary
partner for him, or an alternative role.
9. Complementary Partner

39. Simply offer bigger rewards within the same range of his work.
It is better to have an excellent highly paid waitress or bartender
on your team than promote him or her to a poor starting-level
bar manager.
10. Do not promote someone until he reaches his level of
incompetence

40. Great managers don’t use complicated appraisal
systems. Instead, they concentrate on what to tell each
employee and how to tell them.
11. Simplicity
“The best managers reject
conventional wisdom.”

41.  Great managers also frequently
interact with each worker, not just
once a year at review time.
 Meet, at a minimum, once a quarter
to discuss performance.
 The meeting doesn’t have to last
long, but it must focus on
performance.
 One clear advantage to frequent
feedback is that poor performance
can be corrected earlier rather than
be left for a “bombshell” discussion
at annual review time.
“The best managers treat
every employee as an
individual.”
12. Frequent Interaction

42. All reviews should focus on the future. Great
managers ask workers to identify where they want to
go and how they are going to go about getting there.
The best managers know they are on
stage everyday. They know their people
are watching every move they make.
13. Focus on the future

43. Great leaders also ask workers to track their own performance
and write down successes, goals and discoveries throughout the
review period.
14. Self-tracking

44.  Study the best managers in
the company and revise
training to incorporate what
they know.
 Send your talented people
to learn new skills or
knowledge.
 Change recruiting practices
to hire for talent, revise
employee job descriptions
and qualifications.
15. Some homework to do

45. 1. Know the employee’s talent
2. Set the right outcomes, not just the steps
3. Motivate by focusing on strengths, not weaknesses.
4. Casting is important
5. Every role is noble
6. Excel in the art of the interview.
7. Result-Oriented
8. Spend time with your best people
9. Complementary partner
10. Do not promote someone until he reaches his level of incompetence
11. Simplicity
12. Frequent interaction
13. Focus on the future
14. Self-tracking
15. Some homework to do
Summary

46. Keep the focus on outcomes
Value world-class performance in every role
Study your best people & spend time with them
Teach the language of great managers
Master keys that senior
management of a company can
use to break through ‘conventional
wisdom’s’ barricades
What is that we can to create a friendly climate for our employees
A first step – Follow our own ten golden rules-
(Indicative)

47. Ten Golden Rules ( Indicative)
1. I will delight our customers in everything I do
2. I will openly appreciate others views, ideas & work and I will look for
opportunities to appreciate others, pro-actively.
3. I will share information , ideas, knowledge & show concern to my
colleagues.
4. I will look at an issue from a perspective of what and not who
5. I will be honest and constructive in providing & receiving feedback/ feed
forward
6. I will be open to ideas , suggestions and changes for betterment
7. I will honor the commitments based on the mutual agreement with the
team partners
8. I will always demonstrate positive attitude, approach and maturity in all
my dealings with the team members, customers and other business
partners
9. I will listen patiently & allow my sub-ordinates to express their views
10.I will spend time with my team – a particular day in a week over lunch at
office

48. End Thoughts
 “The needs of the COMPANY and the
needs of the EMPLOYEE, misaligned
since the birth of the corporation over
150 years ago, are CONVERGING.
 The intersection of the company’s
search for VALUE and each individual’s
search for IDENTITY are forces of
change that have seeded into the
corporate landscape for over a decade.
 The best leaders are those who know
how to be CATALYSTS and speed up
these forces of change.”