First, Break All the Rules Quotes

“Sir, I’m afraid that the quality of this airline is partly measured by on-time departures. And unfortunately, on-time departures are measured by when we left the gate, not by wheels-up.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“The power of skills and knowledge is that they are transferable from one person to another. Their limitation is that they are often situation-specific — faced with an unanticipated scenario, they lose much of their power. In contrast, the power of talent is that it is transferable from situation to situation.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“In fact, over the last twenty years, authors have offered up over nine thousand different systems, languages, principles, and paradigms to help explain the mysteries of management and leadership.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“People don’t change that much. Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in. That is hard enough.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“You have to be able to set consistent expectations for all your people, yet at the same time, treat each person differently. You have to be able to make each person feel as though he is in a role that uses his talents while simultaneously challenging him to grow. You have to care about each person, praise each person, and, if necessary, terminate a person you have cared about and praised.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“If you estimate that the wage of the average store employee is $18,000 and that the cost of finding, hiring and training each new employee is 1.5 times his salary, then the total cost to the company for the different levels of retention between the two groups is $18,000 x 1.5 x 1,000 = $27,000,000. And that’s just the hard cost. The drain of experienced employees who have developed valuable relationships with their customers and their colleagues is harder to measure but is just as significant a loss.”
― Gallup Press, FIRST, BREAK ALL THE RULES: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“By telling you that you can transform your non-talents into talents, these less effective managers are not only setting you up to fail, they are intrinsically blaming you for your inevitable failure. This is perverse.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“And what of the notion that “trust must be earned”? Sensible though it may sound, great managers reject it. They know that if, fundamentally, you don’t trust people, then there is no line, no point in time beyond which people suddenly become trustworthy. Mistrust concerns the future. If you are innately skeptical of other people’s motives, then no amount of good behavior in the past will ever truly convince you that they are not just about to disappoint you. Suspicion is a permanent condition. Of course, occasionally a person will indeed let you down. But great managers, like Michael, the restaurant manager from the Introduction, are wired to view this as the exception rather than the rule. They believe that if you expect the best from people, then more often than not, the best is what you get. Innate mistrust is probably vital for some roles — lawyering or investigative reporting, for example. But for a manager, it is deadly.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Adrian P., the manager of two thriving car dealerships, describes it this way: “The hardest thing about being a manager is realizing that your people will not do things the way that you would. But get used to it. Because if you try to force them to, then two things happen. They become resentful — they don’t want to do it. And they become dependent — they can’t do it. Neither of these is terribly productive for the long haul.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Self-aware individuals — strong I’s — are the building blocks of great teams.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Similarly, some people have a four-lane highway for constant achievement, a striving talent we call achiever. They may not have to win, but they do feel a burning need to achieve something tangible every single day. And these people mean every single day. For them, every day — workday, weekend, vacation — starts at zero. They have to rack up some numbers by the end of the day to feel good about themselves. This burning flame may dwindle as evening comes, but the next morning, it rekindles itself, spurring its host to look for new items to cross off his list. These people are the fabled “self-starters.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“if your relationship with your manager is fractured, then no amount of in-chair massaging or company-sponsored dog walking will persuade you to stay and perform. It”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Roads with the most traffic get widened. The ones that are rarely used fall into disrepair.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“But the best managers have the solution: Ask. Ask your employee about her goals: What are you shooting for in your current role? Where do you see your career heading? What personal goals would you feel comfortable sharing with me? How often do you want to meet to talk about your progress?”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“This thinking is well-intended but overly simplistic, reminiscent perhaps of the four-year-old who proudly presents his mother with a red truck for her birthday because that is the present he wants. So the best managers reject the Golden Rule. Instead, they say, treat each person as he would like to be treated, bearing in mind who he is.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“This is the same feeling that many managers unwittingly create in their employees. Even when working with their most productive employees, they still spend most of their time talking about each person’s few areas of nontalent and how to eradicate them. No matter how well-intended, relationships preoccupied with weakness never end well.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“The greatest managers in the world do not have much in common. They are of different sexes, races, and ages. They employ vastly different styles and focus on different goals. But despite their differences, these great managers do share one thing: Before they do anything else, they first break all the rules of conventional wisdom. They do not believe that a person can achieve anything he sets his mind to. They do not try to help a person overcome his weaknesses. They consistently disregard the Golden Rule. And, yes, they even play favorites. Great managers are revolutionaries, although few would use that word to describe themselves. 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. We are not encouraging you to replace your natural managerial style with a standardized version of theirs — as you will see, great managers do not share a “standardized style.” Rather, our purpose is to help you capitalize on your own style, by showing you how to incorporate the revolutionary insights shared by great managers everywhere.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“And what of the notion that “trust must be earned”? Sensible though it may sound, great managers reject it. They know that if, fundamentally, you don’t trust people, then there is no line, no point in time, beyond which people suddenly become trustworthy.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Many managers make a distinction between talent and drive. They often find themselves counseling someone by saying: “Look, you are very talented. But you need to apply yourself or that talent will go to waste.” This advice sounds helpful. More than likely it is well-intended. But fundamentally it is flawed. A person’s drive is not changeable. What drives him is decided by his mental filter, by the relative strength or weakness of the highways in his mind. His drives are, in fact, his striving talents.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Any recurring patterns of behavior that can be productively applied are talents.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“If you are innately skeptical of other people’s motives, then no amount of good behavior in the past will ever truly convince you that they are not just about to disappoint you. Suspicion is a permanent condition.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“second, that everyone, regardless of who they are, will want to be promoted out of the job as soon as possible.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“This can be both a blessing and a curse. You are blessed with a wonderfully unique filter but cursed with a systematic inability to understand anybody else's.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Okay, first I must tell them what I am going to tell them; then I must tell them; then I must tell them what I just told them.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“no matter what your business, the only way to generate enduring profits is to begin by building the kind of work environment that attracts, focuses and keeps talented employees.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Q01. I know what is expected of me at work. Q02. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right. Q03. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day. Q04. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work. Q05. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person. Q06. There is someone at work who encourages my development. Q07. At work, my opinions seem to count. Q08. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important. Q09. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work. Q10. I have a best friend at work. Q11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress. Q12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“If this is how you see your role and if this is what you are doing when you spend time with your people —setting unique expectations, highlighting and perfecting individual styles, and running interference —you cannot help but be drawn toward your most talented employees. Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield. The time you spend with your best is, quite simply, your most productive time.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“So this is their dilemma: The manager must retain control and focus people on performance. But she is bound by her belief that she cannot force everyone to perform in the same way. The solution is as elegant as it is efficient: Define the right outcomes and then let each person find his own route toward those outcomes.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Come in; sit down. I love you; you’re fired. I still love you. Now, get a drink and let’s talk this through.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Great managers take aim at Base Camp and Camp 1. They know that the core of a strong and vibrant workplace can be found in the first six items: Q01. I know what is expected of me at work. Q02. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right. Q03. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day. Q04. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work. Q05. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person. Q06. There is someone at work who encourages my development.”
― Gallup Press, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently