--- product_id: 27877684 title: "First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently" price: "€ 31.08" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.hr/products/27877684-first-break-all-the-rules-what-the-worlds-greatest-managers store_origin: HR region: Croatia --- # First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently **Price:** € 31.08 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently - **How much does it cost?** € 31.08 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hr](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/27877684-first-break-all-the-rules-what-the-worlds-greatest-managers) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Gallup presents the remarkable findings of its revolutionary study of more than 80,000 managers in First, Break All the Rules , revealing what the world’s greatest managers do differently. With vital performance and career lessons and ideas for how to apply them, it is a must-read for managers at every level. Included with this re-release of First, Break All the Rules : updated meta-analytic research and access to the CliftonStrengths assessment, which reveals people’s top themes of talent. What separates the greatest managers from all the rest? They actually have vastly different styles and backgrounds. Yet despite their differences, great managers share one common trait: They don’t hesitate to break virtually every rule held sacred by conventional wisdom. They don’t believe that, with enough training, a person can achieve anything they set their mind to. They don’t try to help people overcome their weaknesses. And, yes, they even play favorites. In this longtime management bestseller, Gallup presents the remarkable findings of its massive in-depth study of great managers. Some were in leadership positions. Others were front-line supervisors. Some were in Fortune 500 companies; others were key players in small, entrepreneurial firms. Whatever their circumstances, the managers who ultimately became the focus of Gallup’s research were those who excelled at turning each individual employee’s talent into high performance. Gallup has found that the front-line manager is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees. This book explains how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience, set expectations, build on each person’s unique strengths rather than trying to fix their weaknesses, and get the best performance out of their teams. And perhaps most important, Gallup’s research produced the 12 simple statements that distinguish the strongest departments of a company from all the rest. First, Break All the Rules is the first book to present this essential measuring stick and to prove the link between employee opinions and productivity, profit, customer satisfaction and the rate of turnover. First, Break All the Rules presents vital performance and career lessons for managers at every level — and best of all, shows you how to apply them to your own situation. Review: Fist break all The Rules - "This book, based on twenty years empirical data, you have to love that. After first reading this book in 2006, my reaction was "MAN! This is a validation of what my mentors showed me". I have had some GREAT mentors during my career, both in the military and later, as a civilian. They taught me how to see things outside of conventional wisdom (not merely ignore that wisdom). If I may now offer further review: The following will comprise of my impressions of the Conventional vs. Revolutionary Key Approaches, offered on pages 66 and 67 offered in FIRST BREAK ALL THE RULES (1999) by M. Buckingham and C. Coffman. Conventional Key: "Select a person based on his experience, intelligence, and determination". There is nothing wrong with this statement in of itself. Let's say that there is are two candidates, one external, and one internal for one Engineering Change Order Coordinator position and the enterprise software system being used is Oracle. The external candidate does not have experience with the specified software, however has written thousands of ECOs, as well as cause and effect reports for their department. The other candidate has experience with exact software, however only minimal similar report writing. If the manager chooses the internal candidate due to the software experience, it may work fine in the long run. It can prove to be a better selection tool for the manager to use the Revolutionary Key: "When selecting someone, they select for talent, not simply experience, intelligence, and determination". In this case, the external candidate has a proven talent for working with personnel from multiple departments, in order to complete tasks that come with ECO writing. This individual will may likely have skill sets can perhaps cross over with minimal system training. Conventional Key: "Set expectations by defining the right steps". Creating flowcharts to show the steps needed to complete a set of tasks is a good thing. Using the Revolutionary Key: "When setting expectations, they define the right outcomes, not the right steps", can prove better. Perhaps you still use Visio, but instead you reverse engineer the processes to find your prerequisites. Work the process backward, from your desired outcome, back to the start. Conventional Key: "Motivate the person by helping him identify and overcome weaknesses". This less politically correct method of evaluating an employee, still fits well for some of the workers that reported to me. Their request was for me to "Tell me what I am doing wrong, so I can fix it." Revolutionary Key: "When motivating someone, they focus on strengths not weaknesses". For the most part, this approach has been the norm for myself, and the people that worked for me. The reviews that I wrote were geared more towards professional development in fact. I will not manufacture a weakness in someone, when one is not present! With influence from a previous manager, I began to have group study with the shop, install, and service foremen. Instead of having them read a book, we each studied a chapter a week. Each week, a different person would be assigned the chapter, and would write, and hand out a worksheet with a set of questions a couple days before we met, and then the team would discuss the assignment. Conventional Key: "Develop the person by helping them learn and get promoted. Career path by default? There is a certain quaintness to the "paid your dues"Âpath. So, if the worker is one of the best, AND shows leadership potential, I would still recommend this process Revolutionary Key: When developing someone, they help him find the right fit not simply the next rung on the ladder. Truly a key point. Even if it is the "paid your dues path, finding there right fit, and then developing that individual to be able to handle the new level of responsibility. Talent: "A recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied." Three recurring patterns that I feel a supervisor should have, are Ethics, Responsibility, And Command. A fairly cut and dry selection for me, as my most important mentors in the military and in business, all have had these talents From the Striving Talents Ethics: A clear understanding of right and wrong, which guides your actions. Perhaps it is not telling your subordinate to lie to a supplier, or customer. Or maybe it is not being willing to have a good-old-boy network where you have your favorite workers stay in your office for extended meetings after lunch or smoke breaks with you, while the other workers are breaking knuckles turning wrenches. It is neither fair to the company, which expects work to be done during the periods that payroll is expected to compensate, nor those busting knuckles. Thank you for this book, Mr. Buckingham and Mr. Coffman." Review: Living this book at work after reading - Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman's 'First, Break All the Rules' is a groundbreaking book that offers invaluable insights into effective management practices. As someone in a leadership role, I found this book to be incredibly enlightening and practical. Buckingham and Coffman challenge conventional management wisdom by identifying key principles that distinguish the world's greatest managers. Their approach is based on extensive research and interviews with top-performing managers, providing evidence-backed strategies for achieving exceptional results. What I appreciate most is the focus on strengths-based management; they argue convincingly that focusing on employees' strengths rather than weaknesses leads to higher engagement, productivity, and overall success. The book is well-structured, with clear explanations and actionable advice that managers can implement immediately. It's also filled with compelling stories and case studies that illustrate their principles in action. Whether you're a seasoned manager or new to leadership, 'First, Break All the Rules' offers a refreshing perspective and practical guidance that can transform your approach to management. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to elevate their managerial skills and create a high-performing team." This review emphasizes the book's research-based insights, practical advice on strengths-based management, clarity in presentation, and its potential to inspire positive changes in managerial practices, making it essential reading for anyone in a leadership role. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #13,597 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #84 in Business Management (Books) #127 in Motivational Management & Leadership #204 in Leadership & Motivation | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 2,700 Reviews | ## Images ![First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71qcSRv5aEL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fist break all The Rules *by D***Z on July 9, 2012* "This book, based on twenty years empirical data, you have to love that. After first reading this book in 2006, my reaction was "MAN! This is a validation of what my mentors showed me". I have had some GREAT mentors during my career, both in the military and later, as a civilian. They taught me how to see things outside of conventional wisdom (not merely ignore that wisdom). If I may now offer further review: The following will comprise of my impressions of the Conventional vs. Revolutionary Key Approaches, offered on pages 66 and 67 offered in FIRST BREAK ALL THE RULES (1999) by M. Buckingham and C. Coffman. Conventional Key: "Select a person based on his experience, intelligence, and determination". There is nothing wrong with this statement in of itself. Let's say that there is are two candidates, one external, and one internal for one Engineering Change Order Coordinator position and the enterprise software system being used is Oracle. The external candidate does not have experience with the specified software, however has written thousands of ECOs, as well as cause and effect reports for their department. The other candidate has experience with exact software, however only minimal similar report writing. If the manager chooses the internal candidate due to the software experience, it may work fine in the long run. It can prove to be a better selection tool for the manager to use the Revolutionary Key: "When selecting someone, they select for talent, not simply experience, intelligence, and determination". In this case, the external candidate has a proven talent for working with personnel from multiple departments, in order to complete tasks that come with ECO writing. This individual will may likely have skill sets can perhaps cross over with minimal system training. Conventional Key: "Set expectations by defining the right steps". Creating flowcharts to show the steps needed to complete a set of tasks is a good thing. Using the Revolutionary Key: "When setting expectations, they define the right outcomes, not the right steps", can prove better. Perhaps you still use Visio, but instead you reverse engineer the processes to find your prerequisites. Work the process backward, from your desired outcome, back to the start. Conventional Key: "Motivate the person by helping him identify and overcome weaknesses". This less politically correct method of evaluating an employee, still fits well for some of the workers that reported to me. Their request was for me to "Tell me what I am doing wrong, so I can fix it." Revolutionary Key: "When motivating someone, they focus on strengths not weaknesses". For the most part, this approach has been the norm for myself, and the people that worked for me. The reviews that I wrote were geared more towards professional development in fact. I will not manufacture a weakness in someone, when one is not present! With influence from a previous manager, I began to have group study with the shop, install, and service foremen. Instead of having them read a book, we each studied a chapter a week. Each week, a different person would be assigned the chapter, and would write, and hand out a worksheet with a set of questions a couple days before we met, and then the team would discuss the assignment. Conventional Key: "Develop the person by helping them learn and get promoted. Career path by default? There is a certain quaintness to the "paid your dues"Âpath. So, if the worker is one of the best, AND shows leadership potential, I would still recommend this process Revolutionary Key: When developing someone, they help him find the right fit not simply the next rung on the ladder. Truly a key point. Even if it is the "paid your dues path, finding there right fit, and then developing that individual to be able to handle the new level of responsibility. Talent: "A recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied." Three recurring patterns that I feel a supervisor should have, are Ethics, Responsibility, And Command. A fairly cut and dry selection for me, as my most important mentors in the military and in business, all have had these talents From the Striving Talents Ethics: A clear understanding of right and wrong, which guides your actions. Perhaps it is not telling your subordinate to lie to a supplier, or customer. Or maybe it is not being willing to have a good-old-boy network where you have your favorite workers stay in your office for extended meetings after lunch or smoke breaks with you, while the other workers are breaking knuckles turning wrenches. It is neither fair to the company, which expects work to be done during the periods that payroll is expected to compensate, nor those busting knuckles. Thank you for this book, Mr. Buckingham and Mr. Coffman." ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Living this book at work after reading *by D***H on June 30, 2024* Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman's 'First, Break All the Rules' is a groundbreaking book that offers invaluable insights into effective management practices. As someone in a leadership role, I found this book to be incredibly enlightening and practical. Buckingham and Coffman challenge conventional management wisdom by identifying key principles that distinguish the world's greatest managers. Their approach is based on extensive research and interviews with top-performing managers, providing evidence-backed strategies for achieving exceptional results. What I appreciate most is the focus on strengths-based management; they argue convincingly that focusing on employees' strengths rather than weaknesses leads to higher engagement, productivity, and overall success. The book is well-structured, with clear explanations and actionable advice that managers can implement immediately. It's also filled with compelling stories and case studies that illustrate their principles in action. Whether you're a seasoned manager or new to leadership, 'First, Break All the Rules' offers a refreshing perspective and practical guidance that can transform your approach to management. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to elevate their managerial skills and create a high-performing team." This review emphasizes the book's research-based insights, practical advice on strengths-based management, clarity in presentation, and its potential to inspire positive changes in managerial practices, making it essential reading for anyone in a leadership role. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ First, Read the Book *by J***L on October 23, 2001* There is a race for talent in today's job market. Organizations are realizing more and more that their competitive advantage lies within those individuals interfacing with customers and other employees. A businesses' greatest asset is indeed the individuals of the organization. We, in training and development, have known this for a long time. Now, there is bottom line business language that helps others acknowledge and quantify the human asset. In my consulting practice I see more and more emphasis and investment in the developing and cultivation or leadership. In order for organizations to capitalize on their human assets, they must invest in the leadership teams who are managing talent. Recently facilitating a project for Innovative Training Strategies I was introduced to this book First, Break All the Rules. This book is rich with analogies, case studies, and practical information for any one who has more than one employee. Buckingham and Coffman present a business case for leadership development that is based on a Gallup survey of over a million employees and 80,000 managers from a vast range of companies and industries. I feel so strongly about this book for you as a business leader and in your organizations' success that I recommend it be a required reading for you and members of your leadership team. That said, my intent here is to share just a couple of the many learnings the book has to offer in order to peak your curiosity and hopefully intrigue you into making the time investment to experience this resource first hand. Today's companies are having a team of people look at benefit packaging and creating a company profile that is attractive to prospective employees-especially talented employees. One of the things that Buckingham and Coffman warn about is that many companies do things that are effective for all employees. From their research they were able to extract information that was especially true for talented employees. They determined "talented" employees as those who seemed to be the most productive in terms of productivity measures and customer feedback. (There is an intense appendix for those who require supporting facts and data.) What they found was this : talented employees need great managers. "The talented employee may join a company because of its charismatic leaders, its generous benefits, and its world-class training programs, but how long that employee stays and how productive he is while he is there is determined by his relationship with his immediate supervisor." So, while your company is spending a lot of resources on employee retention and recruitment, for a return on investment your company would be wise to concurrently develop the leadership team to be talent savvy. Employee Satisfaction is now on everyone's radar. Organizations want satisfied employees because satisfied employees = satisfied customers. Now that that is understood, how does an organization gage employee satisfaction? There is much offered by Buckingham and Coffman to support this critical question. Through their research they have been able to extract the 12 most effective questions to gear how satisfied your talent pool is: 1. Do I know what is expected of me at work? 2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? 3. At work, 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? 7. At work, do my opinions seem to count? 8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important? 9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work? 10. Do I have a best friend at work? 11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress? 12. At work, have I had opportunities to learn and grow. At first glance, I was surprised the first time I saw this list. Yet, when I thought about what is meaningful to myself as an employee, I nodded my head in agreement. Buckingham and Coffman explain what they learned from the process of gathering data from employees and how they determined these questions as being most effective for evaluating talent satisfaction. So, First get the book and take advantage of the research and learning provided by Buckingham and Coffman in First Break All the Rules. If time is an issue, the book is also available on audio cassette. Enjoy making positive impact on your employees and co-workers. ## Frequently Bought Together - First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable - Start With Why: The multi-million-copy bestselling management and leadership book to help you find success --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.hr/products/27877684-first-break-all-the-rules-what-the-worlds-greatest-managers](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/27877684-first-break-all-the-rules-what-the-worlds-greatest-managers) --- *Product available on Desertcart Croatia* *Store origin: HR* *Last updated: 2026-05-24*