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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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How to Be a Great Boss summary
Gino Wickman, René Boer
Strategies to Help Your Employees Bring Their A-Game to Work
16 mins
Brief summary
How to Be a Great Boss offers practical strategies and tools for leaders to manage and inspire their teams effectively. Wickman and Boer emphasize fostering a positive workplace culture and improving accountability for sustained business success.
Table of Contents
How to Be a Great Boss
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Key idea 1 of 5
Embrace your role as boss with pride and purpose
Imagine looking at your workplace and realizing that only a third of your team is fully switched on. That’s what Gallup surveys have shown year after year: just 31.5 percent of employees are “engaged.” These individuals bring fresh ideas, energize those around them, and take initiative to keep customers happy.
At the other end are the 17.5 percent who are “actively disengaged” – employees who dislike their jobs and pull others down with them. Their discontent spreads, and they’re more likely to be absent, push customers away, or even work against the company’s interests. Between these two extremes is the majority – 51 percent – who are “not engaged.” They do the basics, treat work as secondary, and see their role mainly as a paycheck. Collectively, this lack of commitment is estimated to cost businesses roughly $500 billion every year.
So what causes this discrepancy? In most cases, it comes down to leadership. Gallup’s CEO has argued that the most important decision an organization makes is who it puts in management. The right leaders move a company forward; the wrong ones hold it back. And weak leadership is reflected in widespread confusion. A Harris Poll showed that 39 percent of employees don’t know their company’s goals, 47 percent don’t know how it’s performing, and 44 percent don’t see how their work connects to the bigger picture.
The message is clear: engagement is the boss’s responsibility. If people fall short and you haven’t clearly explained what you expect, that shortfall is on you. Bad bosses complain about lazy employees or factors beyond their control. Great bosses step up, take ownership, and change what they can.
But wanting better results isn’t enough. To be effective, you have to get it, want it, and have the capacity to do it. Getting it means having a natural grasp of the role – the systems, the people, the pace, and how the work really fits together. Wanting it means having the “fire in your belly” to lead, not just saying the right words. And capacity covers four areas: emotional strength to connect and stay self-aware; intellectual ability to analyze and plan; physical energy to put in the effort; and disciplined use of time to focus on what matters.
Miss any of these and your team will feel the impact. Possess them, and you’ll be the kind of boss whose people are committed, motivated, and proud to follow.
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What is How to Be a Great Boss about?
How to Be a Great Boss (2016) shows how leaders at any level can inspire commitment, build accountability, and create workplaces where people thrive. It offers practical tools to help you balance leadership and management, delegate effectively, and surround yourself with the right people in the right roles. By applying its simple, time-tested practices, you can strengthen relationships, boost performance, and unlock the full potential of your team.
Who should read How to Be a Great Boss?
- New managers learning to lead effectively
- Seasoned leaders refining their management approach
- Professionals developing their people and leadership capacity
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