First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman — book cover

First, Break All the Rules

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman · 1999

First, Break All the Rules (1999) is a book by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman on Managing for performance. Drawing on Gallup's massive study of 80,000 managers and over a million employees, this book reveals that the world's greatest managers ignore conventional wisdom and play favorites, break the Golden Rule, and build on strengths instead of fixing weaknesses.

9 min read · 8 chapters · Leadership

Why it’s on the shelf

Gallup's landmark research on what the world's greatest managers do differently.

Three of the ideas you’ll keep

The Clif summary of First, Break All the Rules pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.

  1. Hire for talent, not just skills or experience. Skills and knowledge can be taught, but talent (a recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior) cannot. Screen candidates for the innate talents the role actually demands.
  2. Define the right outcomes, then get out of the way. Tell people the result you need and the few non-negotiables, then let them find their own path. Standardizing the ends, not the means, scales performance and respects individuality.
  3. Spend your most time with your best people, not your strugglers. Top performers have the most room to grow and deserve your attention; coasting on them while you firefight the bottom is backwards.

The other 4 — and the full 9-minute summary — are in the app.

What’s inside: 8 chapters

The whole summary runs about 9 minutes, read or listened to.

  1. The Measuring Stick: What Great Managers Know
  2. The Wisdom of the Rebels: Breaking the Rules
  3. The First Key: Select for Talent
  4. The Second Key: Define the Right Outcomes
  5. The Third Key: Focus on Strengths
  6. Play Favorites: Spending Time With Your Best
  7. The Fourth Key: Find the Right Fit
  8. Turning the Keys: From Insight to Practice

Finish First, Break All the Rules tonight.

Read or listen to the full summary in about 9 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.

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