"First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently" is an excellent book, which will help not only the managers, but all other talented employees as well, who have the potential and will eventually become great managers.

This book extols the wonders and potential of human resource development in organizations of all sizes.

The authors, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, based on Gallup's interviews over a period of 25 years with about 1 million staff and 80,000 managers from over 400 companies pinpoint "four keys" to evaluate the performance of an organization in general.

This reflects the competence of the managers to get the best in terms of:

-Selecting the staff for talent (not just for experience, which can be acquired and updated with rapid change in technology),
-defining the right results expected (and should be clearly understood by the individual),
-focusing on strength of employees (leaving scope for their professional growth), and -finding the right fit for all of them.

How much successful the manager is with respect to these four keys, will be reflected in terms of performance in assignments or projects the company has undertaken.

I am a firm believer that employees will do what you pay them to do (in terms of responsibility and recognition, scope for professional growth, appreciation and salary).

The authors reach the conclusion that a company that lacks great frontline managers will bleed talent (or, will produce `talented deadwoods'), no matter how attractive the compensation packages are! Why should a highly motivated employee waste his or her time if a weak employee gets the recognition?

First-line supervisors and managers are the key to our success. They are the vital link between the top management and the staff. What separates the great manager from the mediocre manager is the ability to recognize and develop talented individuals right from the initial point of employment, and the key to finding the right supervisor and manager is in this book!

The book also describes: `The Art of Interviewing for Talent' - 'Which are the right questions to ask?' 'Past performance is indicative of future performance'.

But it is a must that assessors are more talented than the candidates are. If you promote or favor an employee mainly for his talents, let everyone else know about his capabilities and achievements over the others.

Because it is possible that a group of some mediocre or manipulative managers, for their personal gains, form a cabal and help promoting "pseudo talents" and/or mask actual talents.

They may do it by passing incorrect or "selective" information about their subordinates to the top management (or "by dragging and dropping" credits from deserving candidates to the `favored ones').

The book, however, does not explicitly describe how the organization can be saved from such managers. "Favoritism" or "First, Break All the Rules", as advocated in this book, can be even detrimental, and may lead the organization to a vertical collapse.

Here top management's role becomes crucial, as the staff may not come out openly due to some apprehension or someone's bad experience in the past. Also, while responding to any survey conducted, based on this book, it may not be suitable to reply those 12 questions just in `yes' or `no'.

Gallup's ideal symbolic manager `Michael' says that a true manager is always in the process of learning new techniques. When asked about his best team, he gives credit to the entire team. This is the crux of success!

He says, "A manager has got to remember that he is on stage every day. His people are watching him. Everything he does, everything he says, and the way he says it, sends off clues to his employees.

These clues affect performance - never pass the buck, make few promises and keep them all."

This book, written in plain English, tells us how to make our workplace great. I strongly recommend you to read and absorb it.