First, Break All the Rules Quotes

“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. So never forget you are on that stage.”
― Gallup Press, 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. 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.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“We have said that an employee may join a company because of its prestige and reputation, but that his relationship with his immediate manager determines how long he stays and how productive he is while he is there.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“During Gallup’s interviews with great managers, we found a consistent willingness to hire employees who, the managers knew, might soon earn significantly more than they did.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“There is no educational jargon in her school, just boundless energy and a passion for learning, however it happens. One of the signs of a great manager is the ability to describe, in detail, the unique talents of each of his or her people — what drives each one, how each one thinks, how each builds relationships. In a sense, great managers are akin to great novelists. Each of the “characters” they manage is vivid and distinct. Each has his own features and foibles. And their goal, with every employee, is to help each individual “character” play out his unique role to the fullest.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“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.”
― 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.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Don’t helicopter in at seventeen thousand feet, because sooner or later you and your people will die on the mountain.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“They measure the core elements needed to attract, focus, and keep the most talented employees. Here they are: 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 doing 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 my job 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, has someone at work talked to me about my progress? 12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“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.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“This company didn’t have one culture. It had as many cultures as it did managers. No”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“people leave managers, not companies. So”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“made a discovery: Measuring the strength of a workplace can be simplified to twelve questions. These twelve questions don’t capture everything you may want to know about your workplace, but they do capture the most information and the most important information. They measure the core elements needed to attract, focus, and keep the most talented employees. Here they are: 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 doing 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 my job 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, has someone at work talked to me about my progress? 12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“You will have your own examples of a work environment that seems to be firing on all cylinders. It will be a place where performance levels are consistently high, where turnover levels are low, and where a growing number of loyal customers join the fold every day.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“MICHAEL: Well … I suppose the first would be, pick the right people. If you do, it makes everything else so much easier. And once you’ve picked them, trust them. Everyone here knows that the till is open. If they want to borrow $2 for cigarettes or $200 for rent, they can. Just put an IOU in the till and pay it back. If you expect the best of people, they’ll give you the best. I’ve rarely been let down. And when someone has let me down, I don’t think it is right to punish those who haven’t by creating some new rule or policy.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“your”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“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.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“procrastination in the face of poor performance is a fool’s remedy.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“at”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“Have you ever suffered through a bad relationship, the kind of relationship where the pressures of each day sapped your energy and made you a stranger to yourself? If you can stand to, think back to how you felt during that relationship and remember: A bad relationship is rarely one where your partner didn’t know you very well. Most often, a bad relationship is one where your partner came to know you very well indeed … and wished you weren’t that way. Perhaps your partner wanted to perfect you. Perhaps you were simply incompatible and your weaknesses grated on each other. Perhaps your partner was a person who simply enjoyed pointing out other people’s failings. Whatever the cause, you ended up feeling as though you were being defined by those things you did not do rather than those things you did. And that felt awful.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

“the only truth is your own. The world you see is seen by you alone. What entices you and what repels you, what strengthens you and what weakens you, is part of a pattern that no one else shares.”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently