I just finished reading “The Greatest Management Principle in the World” by Michael LeBoeuf, and I am rather impressed. Though the book was written in 1985, way before the GTD movement, this book is rather inspirational in not only getting things done, but also in creative and lateral thinking, as well as tips on achieving more and things of that nature. Leboeuf stresses that “The Things that get rewarded, get done,” to explain how to manage people and how rewards consistantly achieve better results than punishments. I’ll go into a little detail of what should be rewarded and a couple of other ideas from the book.
Things that should be rewarded (things we should achieve):
- Problem solving ideas (not just problem identification or analysis)
- Risk Taking (rather than avoiding risk)
- Innovation (applying creativity to problem solving)
- Decisive Action (productive results)
- Smart Work (rather than busy work)
- Simplification (eliminating the unnecessary)
- Quiet Effective Behavior (attendance, punctuality, politeness, etc.)
- Quality Work Done on time (rather than faster work of lesser quality or late work)
- Loyalty (you can buy a man’s time, but you can’t buy his loyalty)
- Teamwork and Cooperation
LeBoeuf asserts that employees are a companies greatest assets, and when invested in correctly, will produce great results and ultimately lead to success. The book outlines great ways of managing groups of people, arousing enthusiasm in your team, and organizational skills to lead your team to success.
This book, along with many other great leadership books by LeBoeuf, is actually pretty cheap if you buy it here, since most of his books were written in the 80s. Pick one up for a penny or two plus shipping, you won’t regret it.
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