Good Boss, Bad Boss Book Review

Summary of Book

Good Boss, Bad Boss is a collection of stories about what the best and worst bosses do and how their actions impact their employees. It talks about the “softer” side of managing employees and how good bosses motivate their employees to be better. For example, Sutton states that “if you are a boss, your success depends on staying in tune with how others think, feel and react to you (p. 244).” Meaning bosses should be judged by what they achieve and by how their direct reports feel during the process. Sutton states that there are two questions that every boss ought to fret over and focus on every day to truly be a great boss (p. 248). Those two questions are:

1. Would you want to work for him or her again?

2. Are you in tune with what it feels like to work for you?

Strengths

One of the best strengths of the book is its overall organization. Looking through the tables of contents provides a quick and easy overview of the book’s main points. Each chapter is assigned to one of the main messages within the book. For example, Sutton stresses that the best bosses “take pride in service as a human shield, absorbing and deflecting heat from superiors and customers, doing all manner of boring and silly tasks, and battling back against every idiot and slight that makes life unfair or harder than necessary on his or her charges” (p. 154). This is chapter six, Serve as a Human Shield. Other chapters include Sutton’s other main messages about what the best bosses do, which are: Take Control (two), Strive to Be Wise (three), Stars and Rotten Apples (four), Link Talk and Action (five), Serve as a Human Shield (six), Don’t Shirk the Dirty Work (seven), and Squelch Your Inner Bosshole (eight).

The other strength of the book is that it uses compelling examples and stories, each told with some level of humor or irony. For example, my favorite story from the book is about not letting people falling pretty to the “blabbermouth theory of leadership.” Sutton...