First, Break All the Rules

“A truth ceases to be a truth as soon as two people perceive it.” All right, so Mr. Wilde was better known for his wit than for his management advice; nonetheless, every manager should be required to remember this one remark. Although he phrased it in the extreme, Mr. Wilde simply meant that the only truth is your own. The world you see is seen by

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. This solution may sound simple. But study it more closely and you can begin to see its power.

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.

ROAD warriors — the army’s pithy phrase for those sleepy folk who are happy to “retire on active duty”?

It is better to work for a great manager in an old-fashioned company than for a terrible manager in a company offering an enlightened, employee-focused culture.

Do I know what is expected of me at work? Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day? In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work? Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person? Is there someone

Everyone has certain recurring patterns of behavior. No one can take credit for these talents. They are an accident of birth, “the clash of the chromosomes,” as the ethologist Robert Ardrey described them. However, each person can and should take credit for cultivating his unique set of talents.

An employee may join Disney or GE or Time Warner because she is lured by their generous benefits package and their reputation for valuing employees. But it is her relationship with her immediate manager that will determine how long she stays and how productive she is while she is there.

Striving talents explain the why of a person. They explain why he gets out of bed every day, why he is motivated to push and push just that little bit harder. Is he driven by his desire to stand out, or is good enough good enough for him? Is he intensely competitive or intensely altruistic or both? Does he define himself by his technical competence