Bob Sutton's Good Boss, Bad Boss 

Below is a summary of Robert I. Sutton's conference about his book Good Boss, Bad Boss. Sutton is one of the speakers at the Influence and Leadership Summit. You can watch the video at www.LeadershipAndInfluenceSummit.com. Videos will be available until December 31st.

"When you plant a seed in the ground you don't dig it out every week to see how it's doing." Bill Coin

Confidence + Civilized person (foster performance while treating people with dignity) = Good boss

To become a good boss, you must:

1. Be assertive - Be "in tune" with reactions to your words and deeds, and making the right adjustments.

2. Be wise

• Question your own assumptions. 
• Don't fake you are listening. Really listen to your people. 
• Fight as if you are right; listen as if you are wrong.

3.  Focus on small wins

• Focus on little steps required to make constant progress. 
• Do the easy-fast goals first and then move to the harder ones.

4. Eliminate the negative 

• According to Will Felp's research, bad apples bring down performance by 30-40% compared to teams that don't have them. 
• Follow the "5 to 1 rule": negative interactions are 5 times stronger than positive ones. 
• Negative emotions are highly contagious and poison the group. The team spends a lot of energy dealing with them rather than focusing on their job.

5. Got their backs - Protect your people from harm, intrusions, distractions, indignities, idiots, and idiocicy of every stripe.

Are you a really good boss? Let's find out...

1. Do you know what it feels to work for you?

2. If they had the choice, would your people elect to work for you again?