First, Break All the Rules, subtitled What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently (1999) is a self-help book authored by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman about improving employee satisfaction. The book appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for 93 weeks. Time magazine listed the book as one of "The 25 Most Influential Business Management Books".

Content outline

Buckingham and Coffman discuss the fallacies of standard management thinking and how good managers create and sustain employee satisfaction. The book is a result of observations based on 80,000 interviews with managers as conducted by the Gallup Organization in the last 25 years. The book goes into detail on debunking old myths about management, and gives advice to employers on how to obtain and keep talented people in their organization. Key ideas from the book include: