HBR Article on The Boss as a Human Shield: 100 Free Downloads

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12 Things I Believe

1. Sometimes the best management is no management at all -- first do no harm!
2. Indifference is as important as passion.
3. Saying smart things and giving smart answers are important. Learning to listen to others and to ask smart questions is more important.
4. You get what you expect from people. This is especially true when it comes to selfish behavior; unvarnished self-interest is a learned social norm, not an unwavering feature of human behavior.
5. Avoid pompous jerks whenever possible. They not only can make you feel bad about yourself, chances are that you will eventually start acting like them.
6. Anyone can learn to be creative, it just takes a lot of practice and little confidence
7. "Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong."
8. Sutton's Law: “If you think that you have a new idea, you are wrong. Someone else probably already had it. This idea isn’t original either; I stole it from someone else”
9. "Am I a success or a failure?" is not a very useful question
10. The world would be a better place if people slept more and took more naps
11. Strive for simplicity and competence, but embrace the confusion and messiness along the way.
12. Jimmy Maloney is right, work is an overrated activity.

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« The Boss as Human Shield: New HBR Article Based on Good Boss, Bad Boss | Main | Managing Leadership: An Unappreciated Gem »

HBR Article on The Boss as a Human Shield: 100 Free Downloads

As I wrote yesterday, I just had an HBR article on "The Boss as Human Shield" appear, which presents some of the main points from Chapter 6 of Good Boss, Bad Boss. HBR online posts the text of the article for free for a few weeks, so you can go here and read it now if you want. But they also give authors 100 free PDF's. If you would like one, please go here to get it. Please just take one so that others can have a copy. And if you try to get a copy and they are gone, please email me so I can let people know.

P.S. The above picture is the opening graphic for the article; it was inspired by an executive I quote in the article who talked about how, when people mistakes, sometimes her job is to let them "hide behind my skirt."

August 27, 2010 in Bosses | Permalink

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Sir,
Many thanks for the article. I would agree that it is essential to have a good boss to kind of cover you. As a safety & Environment professional at the early stage of my career(1992-96) I was very lucky to have a functional manager who stood by me come what may!!.(Implementing Safety norms against business wishes was a tough ask even then!!).
Good boss matters a lot, I would assume they are becoming endangered species. 50 Years down the line, some reactivation will be needed urgently to prevent them extinct..
Regards
Karthik
Bangalore.

Posted by: Karaikudy | September 05, 2010 at 10:40 PM

Thanks Professor Sutton for your HBR article. I should be getting "Good Boss,Bad Boss" by this Tuesday from amazon.com thru DHL. Just procured the old paperback edition of your earlier work "The No Asshole Rule" locally till I saw that a new edition is out. It is a great read! Look forward to reading up on your work. Also took the BRASS survey yesterday. I got to know of your work very recently after reading up on Scott Eblin's blog.

Best wishes,

Deepak Pandhi
Gurgaon (India)

Posted by: Deepak Pandhi | August 28, 2010 at 10:17 PM

Generous of you to share the reprints Robert, thanks!

My initial 'skim' highlighted stories that range from corporate settings to law enforcement, to Torre and Steinbrenner. ;-)

It will be a good lense to use in reference to my current role.

Posted by: Rob McCormick | August 27, 2010 at 06:57 PM

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