How to Become a Great Boss: The Rules For Getting and Keeping the Best Employees [Hardcover]

Jeffrey J. Fox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2002

The Great Boss Simple Success Formula

Companies Do What the Boss Does
Groom 'Em, or Broom 'Em
Hire Slow, Fire Fast
Don't Be Tired
The Rule of the Ds
Delegate Down, Down, Down
Don't Hire a Dog and Bark Yourself
Don't Shoot from the Lip
Never Be Little, Never Belittle
Listen to Phonies, Fools, and Frauds
Don't Check Expense Accounts
"Quit" Is for Scrabble
It's Okay to Be Quirky

Did you ever have a great boss? Everyone should have one, but not enough people do. If you're a boss, or hope to become one, or have a less-than-great boss, then this is the book that could change your career-and your life.

In times like these, being a great boss can be harder than ever. If you want surprising and useful advice on how to handle the tough stuff -- from having to fire a long-time employee to being a new boss with a demoralized team -- the stories, observations, and advice contained in this gem of a book will set your feet in the right direction. And if you just want advice on living up to the legend who preceded you in the job, or even ways to emulate someone who was a great boss to you, Jeffrey Fox has gathered anecdotes from some of the mightiest and most respected bosses in America. The bestselling author who brought you How to Become CEO and How to Become a Rainmaker knows the territory about which he speaks.

Fox is the master of the counterintuitive angle. For every boss who has implied "I know what's best, that's why I'm the boss," Fox counsels, "Listen to Phonies, Fools, and Frauds" and "Don't Check Expense Accounts." His stories from bosses who have cared equally for employees' lives and the bottom line will inspire you to see that profit counts, but so do camaraderie, motivation, and a great place to work.

In a time of considerable corporate downsizing, it's more important than ever for bosses to surround themselves with motivated employees. Jeffrey Fox's newest volume will have a place on the shelves of top brass everywhere who want to remain leaders of their pack.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jeffrey J. Fox is the bestselling author of How to Become a Rainmaker and How to Become CEO and the founder of Fox & Co., a premier marketing consulting company in Avon, CT. Prior to starting Fox & Co., he was VP Marketing and Corporate VP of Loctite Corporation. Fox is the subject of a top 100 Harvard Business School case study that is also thought to be the most widely taught marketing case study in the world. A frequent speaker to large organizations and groups of senior executives, he is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, CT, and has an MBA from Harvard Business School. He lives in New Hampshire.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I

Mr. Hart

The great boss stirs the people. The great boss elevates, applauds, and lauds the employees. The great boss makes people believe in themselves and feel special, selected, anointed. The great boss makes people feel good.

Great bosses are memorable. In sixty seconds, this boss created a memory to last over sixty years.

The employee was twenty-four. It was his first real job. He was in the fifth week.

That morning there was a knock on the six- foot-tall glass wall that framed his "office." "Excuse me, Mr. Godfrey, my name is Ralph Hart," said a courtly, exquisitely dressed man in his sixties. "Do you have a minute?"

"Of course," answered the young employee, who recognized the name, but not the face, of the company's legendary Chairman-of-the-Board.

"Thank you," said Mr. Hart. "Mr. Godfrey, may I tell you a few things about your company?" To the employee's nod, Mr. Hart continued: "Mr. Godfrey, your company is a first-class company. We have first-class products. We have first-class customers. We have first-class advertising. In fact, sometimes we even fly first-class because the airlines are some of our first-class customers."

Extending his hand to the new employee, Mr. Hart paused, and with eyes riveted on Godfrey, he concluded: "And Mr. Godfrey, we only hire first-class people. Welcome to Heublein."

If you believe that able and motivated people are the key to an enterprise's success, then Mr. Hart just taught you a lot. If you don't believe able and motivated people are the key to an enterprise's success, then stop reading and give this book to someone else.

II

The Great Boss Simple Success Formula

1. Only hire top-notch, excellent people. 2. Put the right people in the right job. Weed out the wrong people. 3. Tell the people what needs to be done. 4. Tell the people why it is needed. 5. Leave the job up to the people you've chosen to do it. 6. Train the people. 7. Listen to the people. 8. Remove frustration and barriers that fetter the people. 9. Inspect progress. 10. Say "Thank you" publicly and privately.

III

Companies Do What the Boss Does

People take their cues from the boss. The boss sets the tone and the standards. The boss sets the example. Over time, the department, the office, the store, the workshop, the factory, the company begin to do what the boss does.

If the boss is always late, punctuality becomes a minor obligation. If the boss is always in meetings, everybody is always in meetings. If the boss calls on customers, customers become important. If the boss blows off customer appointments, the salesforce makes fewer sales calls. If the boss is polite, rude people don't last. If the boss accepts mediocrity, mediocrity is what she gets. If the boss is innovative and inventive, the company looks for opportunities. If the boss does everyone's job, the employees will let him. If the boss gives everyone in the organization a World Series ring, then everyone wants to win the World Series. If the boss leads a charge, the good and able employees will be a step behind.

Great bosses understand this phenomenon. Great bosses position the organization to succeed, not with policies, but with posture and presence. If the great boss wants a policy of traveling on Sunday or practice before presentations, he or she travels on Sunday and practices presentations. If the boss doesn't want little snowstorms to make people late to the office, he gets in early the day of the storm and makes the coffee . . . and serves coffee to the stragglers as they arrive.

Some bosses lead purposefully, others innately. Whether intentional or not, the great boss shapes the organization. Because the company does what the boss does, the boss better perform, or the company won't.

Copyright (c) 2002 Jeffrey Fox

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (May 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786868236
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868230
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Grew up in a small town. Saw Mickey Mantle hit several home runs at Yankee Stadium. State high school baseball champions. Full scholarship to Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Featured in the book, How to Succeed in Business Before Graduating From College. Played rugby at Harvard Business School. Married to the same girl since 1968. Bought an old house and moved it three miles next to a brook. Broke leg playing rugby for the Hartford Wanderers. Retired from rugby. Lived in San Francisco and worked in the wine business. Three children and their families. Own some small businesses. Oodles of dogs and birds. Favorite cities outside the US are Paris, Florence, Istanbul, Montreal. Favorite small towns are Bellagio, Siena, Zihuatenejo, Mufugano Island, Bodrhum. Started Fox&Co. in 1982. Wrote eight books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of useful ideas for any work setting, January 27, 2003

By 

Blaine Greenfield "eclectic reader" (Belle Meade, NJ) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Become a Great Boss: The Rules For Getting and Keeping the Best Employees (Hardcover)

Recently, I read HOW TO BECOME A RAINMAKER: THE RULES
FOR GETTING AND KEEPING CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS by
Jeffrey J. Fox . . . it was one of the best business books that I have come across in a long time.

So when I came across an earlier book by Fox--HOW TO BECOME
A GREAT BOSS: THE RULES FOR GETTING AND KEEPING THE
BEST EMPLOYEES--I just had to get hold of it . . . and I did, getting the chance to listen to the taped version . . . I'm glad I did, too; it's another winner!

Fox presents nothing brilliantly new, but he writes in a clear and readable fashion . . . in doing so, he presents lots of ideas that you can immediately apply to almost any management
situation . . . he also makes it clear that management involves
just about anything that we do, and a result, we should perhaps
think of many folks as "managers" that might not ordinarily
fit into that category (I'm thinking parents here, for example).

In particular, I liked his following "Great Boss Simple Success
Formula":
1. Only hire top-notch, excellent people.
2. Put the right people in the right job. Weed out the wrong people.
3. Tell the people what needs to be done.
4. Tell the people why it is needed.
5. Leave the job up to the people you've chosen to do it.
6. Train the people.
7. Listen to the people.
8. Remove frustration and barriers that fetter the people.
9. Inspect progress.
10. Say "Thank you" publicly and privately.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable Perspectives on "Boss", April 29, 2002

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Become a Great Boss: The Rules For Getting and Keeping the Best Employees (Hardcover)

Fox has written several other books, some of which I have reviewed. He continues to display a unique talent for focusing on a key point and then expressing it clearly and concisely. Unlike many other business authors, Fox may re-examine certain themes (e.g. appropriate mindsets for a decision-maker) but almost never recycles material. That is especially true of this volume in which he shares feedback for a rather long list of executives who are listed in the "Contributors" section. Many years ago, Sir Isaac Newton observed that "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." That is not to suggest that Fox is a a midget; rather, to suggest that he is an active and receptive student of those who -- in this instance -- are all great "bosses." A brief word about "boss." Obviously, few executives become a CEO but all executives -- directly or indirectly -- can have a profound impact on those for whom they are responsible. In this volume, Fox suggests what a "great boss" is...and isn't. He also explains why.

He organizes his material within 50 brief but insightful chapters, followed by an "Epilogue," a series of personal statements by various senior-level executives which compellingly illustrate how and why "Great Bosses Beget Great Bosses." The inverse is also true: "Ineffective Bosses Beget Ineffective Bosses." For example, on a scale of 1-10, a 6 or 7 boss never hires a 9 or 10. Moreover, my own experience suggests that if and when a 6 or 7 inadvertently hires a 9 or 10 (or one with the capabilities to become one), the 6 or 7 either runs the 9 or 10 off or ensures that the development of that promising person is suppressed. "Great bosses" are never threatened by a 9 or 10. On the contrary, they only hire the best and the brightest. Fox urges his reader to spend supervisory time with the best people because "the top 10-20% of the employees [in any organization] deliver 70-80% of the results."

Obviously, I think very highly of this slim but informative book. Those who share my high regard for it are urged to check out Buckingham and Coffman's First, Break All the Rules; Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee's Primal Leadership; Maister's Practice What You Preach; O'Toole's The Executive's Compass; Whyte's The Heart Aroused; and finally, Bossidy and Charan's Execution: The Discipline of Getting Results.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Readable Gem, June 7, 2002

By 

Turner M Grant (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Become a Great Boss: The Rules For Getting and Keeping the Best Employees (Hardcover)

This book is different from most business books in two ways:
One, it is readable, two, it is a gem. The first chapter alone is worth the price. I am prompted to write this review
to correct an earlier review which claims Mr. Fox has a big ego because the word "I" is used so often. The word "I" is not used even once by Mr. Fox. It does appear in the epilogue which is a collection of terrific quotes from great bosses. Take one hour and read this superb and important little book.