Book Review of Good Boss, Bad Boss — Robert Sutton
I was honored enough to get an advance copy of the soon-to-be-published book Good Boss, Bad Boss, by Robert Sutton. I’ve read Bob’s “stuff” (his “Work Matters” blog, his last book The No Asshole Rule, and many other great pieces of content).
Since it’s going to be out on September 7th (that’s next week!) I thought I’d take the next few days to write a series of posts on some of the parts that hopped out at me, make a few comments, and wrap it up with my overall assessment.
Good Bosses Take the Middle Ground
One of the major summary items that I walked away from with this book was that, in many ways, being a good boss means moderation. What do I mean by that? Good bosses don’t necessarily display extremes of certain qualities, like charisma or power. Instead, they’ve learned to balance aspects of several characteristics that help them drive their team forward.
Examples [Note: when I use “vs” I mean “balanced with.”]
Big picture vs. Details
Patience vs Urgency
Competitive vs Submissive
Aggressive vs Passive
Harmony vs (Constructive) Conflict
Top down vs Shared leadership
Directing vs Listening/allowing
Personal goals vs Team goals
Bob does a really great job of explaining why being a boss doesn’t have to mean that your leadership skills are visible. In fact, as an illustration, he says “savvy bosses travel through their days in search of the sweet spot between interjecting too little and too much, keeping a close eye on when more or less pressure, nagging, and intimidation is needed to get the best out of their people (and for provoking respect and dignity rather than contempt).”
This is really important I think. Many people think you can “spot” a good boss. But Bob argues the exact opposite. Good bosses are good because they’re undetectable. The results — a well-run, motivated team — are where you can detect a good boss….
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