Posted on Mar 23, 2008 under management |
First break all the rules
One million employees and 80.000 managers in 400 companies were subject to a study. The result of this study is the exact same book I am talking about today.
Big managers break all the rules
This is pretty much the main idea of the book and Gallup Organization, one of the biggest consulting firms in the management area, came up to with after no less than 25 years. To be completely honest, I’m actually afraid each time I open a management book because I always have a problem with recipes and ideas that were already explored. Despite this lack of trust in recipes, I hate to read that people who are considered experts in management do things in a completely different way than mine.
This considering, First break all the rules was an oasis of tranquility. Respected, loved and, last but not least, efficient managers break all the possible “rules”. People who have a strong background in Human Resources know that there are people with a certain look in their eyes, who enter the room and one absolutely knows that they are the ones for the job, the ones that can make the difference.
I imagine that exceptional managers should look the same way, they should be able to run systems letting go of their prejudices, firmly denying deeply rooted procedures and standards, especially in multinational companies. First break all the rules is all about this kind of people.
You have the right to favor your employees. You actually need to do it!
Fairness doesn’t mean equality between employees. Equity theory says that one should treat fairly his employees, not “evenly”! For some deserve more than others, for some offer more than others. Authors from Gallup Organization go even further by saying managers have the right to have their own favorite employees and repay them whenever they see it fit.
As another example, studies show that it is stupid to try to improve the weaknesses of the people you work with and I totally agree. Why is it wrong? Well, you will find that reading the book, I have already told you too much. The only thing that I’m going to add, I promise, is that each idea which is mentioned in First break all the rules is seriously argued and statistically sustained.
Finally, I feel the need to say that I don’t agree entirely with all of what is written in this book and I am not going to apply each “rule” found there just because other 80.000 managers do that. It wouldn’t actually be in the spirit of the book to do that, would it now?
Written by Andrei
Kiyosaki writes worse than I could possibly write and he is far from considering himself a real writer. But his books, not a few actually, are valuable because they manage to change mentalities.
I know at least 4 people radically changed by Kiyosaki’s books
I also know a lot of multinational companies built upon the principles of the cashflow quadrant that Kiyosaki has promoted through all possible media. On the other hand, I know people who have taken the books I am talking about for a Bible and have narrowed their vision so much that they instantly deny any idea or concept that doesn’t exist in the American’s theory. I could say they live a form of fanatism.
Kiyosaki’s books are dangerous
As dangerous as a knife which you can use both to cut the bread and to kill somedoby. When I read Cashflow Quadrant, a few years ago, I had some revelations. I would exaggerate if I said they changed my life. Actually, books don’t change people, they merely show them that there are alternatives, but people are the ones who take the call. Even running away from responsibility is a choice of its own, but I am not writing about this today.
Cashflow Quadrant can be summed up to the simple scheme right where:
E = Employee
S = Self-employed (freelancer, dentist, lawyer or independent consultant)
I = Investor
B = Business owner
According to Kiyosaki everybody should want to be in the B quadrant because, from his point of view, one can manage to get faster from there to the investors’ quadrant. I found out (and it took me some time) that, first of all, not all people are made for the B quadrant and, second of all, not all the people wish to be there. But no matter if you want to be an employee, a self-employed or the owner of your own business, it is good to know what each of them means and which is the real relation between time and money.
We trade time for money
And this is the exact topic Cashflow Quadrant talks about. It is about the fact that the employee works 9 hours a day and he is paid with a certain amount of money, but if someday he decides that he doesn’t want to do that anymore, he permanently loses his income because he gets fired. The self-employed also trades time for money but if he finds himself one morning in the mood of not getting out of bed, he can do that without losing his income. The only disadvantage is that he will earn less that day (or during that period of time).
One becomes an investor the moment when, as an employee or a self-employee, has saved a serious amount of money which he tries to multiply. Likewise happens with the business owner, but you can read about it in Cashflow Quadrant. That is if you have the guts.
Written by Andrei