LEADERSHIP LIBRARY
Superbosses
Sydney Finkelstein
IN BRIEF
“Superbosses,” as the author frames it, exhibit behaviors that you likely wouldn’t read in most leadership textbooks. “Superbosses aren’t like most bosses; they follow a playbook all their own.” (p. 6) That said, what they are doing that is similar to other leaders is focusing intensely on the development of their team and executing against a clear strategy. In doing so, they create a clear employee value proposition and have the chance to deliver outsized returns.
WATCH OUT
Most of the examples of Superbosses are company founders or were picked to lead a struggling organization, giving them more leeway in their management style. There weren’t examples of those who displayed superboss behavior—which has some off-putting elements—and still rose in a large organization.
Key Concepts
Types of Superbosses: Iconoclasts, Glorious Bastards, Nurturers
“These Iconoclasts, as I call them, are so wholly fixated on their vision that they are able to teach in an intuitive, organic way, as a natural outgrowth of their passion and in service to it, rather than consciously or methodically.” (p. 25)
“Then there are the Glorious Bastards, superbosses less attuned to developing others than they are to winning, no matter what.” (p. 26)
“Unlike both Iconoclasts and glorious Bastards, they truly, deeply care about the success of their protégés and pride themselves on their ability to develop others. These leaders represent a third type of superboss: the benevolent Nurturer.” (pp. 28-9)
Attributes of Superbosses
Extreme confidence, even fearlessness—”They almost universally embrace the axiom that ‘there are no problems, only solutions.’” (p. 30)
Competitiveness
Imaginative nature—“Superbosses are visionaries.” (p. 30)
Integrity—“I use the work not primarily to mean ‘honesty’ in the colloquial sense, but rather strict adherence to a core vision or sense of self.” (p. 31)
Authenticity—“So many bosses cultivate an image for the benefit of their reports. They keep a tight lid on their personalities, saving their ‘true’ selves for when they’re away from the office. Not superbosses. In their daily interactions with others, they let their personalities hang out.” (pp. 31-2)
Superbosses hire unconventionally
“...they sniff out promising employees in the craziest of places.” (p. 39)
“Superbosses don’t want recruits who are talented and smart; they want recruits who are unusually talented and startlingly smart. They don’t want ordinary leaders; they want drivers of change.” (p. 42)
Superbosses get their hands dirty with their teams as opposed to creating hierarchy and distance
“...superbosses embrace the apprenticeship model wholeheartedly as a way of doing business.” (p. 106)
“Superbosses think about strategy and vision, as we’ve seen, but they also think about doing. To a surprising degree, they join employees in getting their hands dirty with actual work, modeling behavior and guiding employees in the process.” (p. 112)
Quotables
“Look around your workplace. Do leaders enjoy special parking spots, cafeterias, bathrooms, offices, and the like? ...To most superbosses, the usual perks, distinctions, and hierarchies are just not that meaningful. In fact, they’re counterproductive. Superbosses are so focused on engaging with their people that they disdain anything that might create physical or even emotional distance.” (p. 113)
“Such intellectually honest behavior leads us to another core lesson superbosses impress on their people: the importance of cutting away the nonessential and prioritizing what is real, even if this requires that protégés behave independently and flout social conventions.” (p. 122)
Tommy Frist: “Every day, I look at my near-term goals, my intermediate-term goals, and my long-term goals. I do it from a health point of view, a moral point of view, and a financial point of view. I polish these goals every day. I’ve been surprised to see that most people don’t write down their goals.” (p. 143)