|
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW ...About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success By Marcus Buckingham Publisher: Free Press Publication Date: March 7, 2005 Price: $29.95/hardcover ISBN: 0-7432-6165-8 "This book challenges basic beliefs of great management with powerful evidence and a compelling argument . . . essential reading." -- Bradbury H. Anderson, President and CEO, Best Buy Praise for Now, Discover Your Strengths "The code for managing has been broken and the secrets for success are here in this book!" -- Mike Morrison, Dean, University of Toyota BUSINESS EXPERT AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR MARCUS BUCKINGHAM CHALLENGES CONVENTIONAL WISDOM, OFFERING NEW IDEAS ABOUT ACHIEVING SUCCESS - IN MANAGING, LEADING, AND INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE Whether spending time with a Fortune 500 CEO, a pharmaceuticals superstar, or a high-performing retail store manager, Buckingham looked for the one factor or "controlling insight" that led to each person's greatness either as a leader, a manager or in an individual career. He spent hours studying the minute details of what they did on a daily basis, sifting through masses of ideas and conflicting viewpoints to zero in on what really matters. Without losing sight of the richness and complexity of his subject, Buckingham uncovered the "one thing" that people need to embrace in order to excel in each area. They are:
"Great managing is not about transforming each employee into some predetermined perfect version of the role he or she is in. Instead, it's about releasing the unique qualities inside each person," says Buckingham. The key skill of superior managers is their ability to perceive individual differences. They then use this knowledge to tweak each employee's job to fit his or her particular strengths and style. This allows employees to flourish and make the most significant contribution possible to the organization. Leadership As opposed to great managers, great leaders must see beyond what is unique in each individual and instead focus on what is universal to them all. Great leaders must target people's shared needs, the most elemental of which is the need for clarity, particularly about the future. "Great leaders turn people's anxiety about the future into confidence by being clear," says Buckingham. "Outstanding leadership is not about passion or consistency," he insists, "but about clarity." The best leaders are always clear about who the company serves, what the company's core strength and core score are, and what actions can be taken that will bring these concepts to reality. Sustained Individual Success "Successful people don't try to fix their weaknesses," explains Buckingham. Instead they take steps to eliminate them. The key to sustained individual success is having the discipline to identify the activities that one doesn't like to do and then cut them out. This is especially true as people grow, obtaining more experience and achieving greater success. Many doors open up. It is less important to know which to enter, than which to close. Throughout THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW, Buckingham illustrates the "controlling insights," with revealing anecdotes about such companies as Best Buy, HSBC-North America, Tesco's, and Rio Tinto Borax. There are also instructive stories from the lives of such people as Rudy Giuliani, Thomas Jefferson, and Bill Parcells as well as Dave Koepp, the screenwriter of Jurassic Park and Spiderman; Manjit Kaur, a Walgreen's clerk who consistently wins company-wide sales contests; and Randy Fogle, the boss who led his crew out of a devastating mine flood after being trapped for more than three days below ground. According to Buckingham, the common thread running through these stories is that success does not come to those who aspire to well-roundedness, breadth, and balance. In actuality, the opposite is true. Success comes to those who pursue strategies that are intentionally imbalanced. The great manager magnifies, emphasizes, and then capitalizes on each employee's uniqueness. Great leaders come to conclusions about their core customer and their organizations' basic strength, and, for the sake of clarity, focus on these fundamentals. Similarly, outstanding performers cut from their work lives those activities that they don't enjoy. This leaves them free to unleash their strengths. And if it can be said that the great thought-leader simplifies and clarifies the message, then with his book THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW, Marcus Buckingham has achieved that level of success. By clarifying complex ideas, he offers crucial performance and career lessons for business people everywhere. ABOUT THE AUTHOR MARCUS BUCKINGHAM graduated from Cambridge University with a master's degree in social and political science. During his seventeen years with the Gallup Organization, he helped lead research into the world's best leaders, managers, and workplaces. This research formed the basis for two bestselling books: First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths. A subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, Fortune, and Fast Company, Buckingham, now an independent consultant, author, and speaker, is considered one of the world's leading authorities on employee productivity and the practices of leading and managing. He is a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Leadership and Management. He lives with his wife and two children in Los Angeles. |
||
close window | ||