- by Ruth Valverde A.
- published
BOOK SUMMARY: SUPERBOSSES: HOW EXCEPTIONAL LEADERS MASTER THE FLOW OF TALENT
The author researched 18 different industries to find the characteristics of the leaders capable of developing their teams and making each individual better as a professional.
I read the Kindle version of the book.
My insights from the book:
Let’s start with the basics. What is a superboss? Which unique qualities define a “superboss.”
A superboss is a leader who hire the best talent and develops them into iconic superstars within their industry. Every professional who wants to excel in their career, wants to work for a superboss.
Superbosses are known for having a clear vision, being fearless, and embodying a competitive spirit.
Their integrity, authenticity, and ability to push employees to do their best attract the intelligent, creative and flexible talent a company needs to succeed.
Superbosses have mastered something most bosses miss — a path to extraordinary success resides in making other people successful.
Superbosses obtained immense satisfaction from building a legacy.
A superboss is a leader known for having a clear vision, being fearless, and embodying a competitive spirit. Their integrity, authenticity, and ability to push employees to do their best attract the intelligent, creative and flexible talent a company needs to succeed.
Superbosses differ considerably in their interpersonal styles, but how they identify, motivate, coach, and leverage others are remarkably consistent, highly unconventional, and unmistakably powerful.
Remember! The primary path to winning as a leader is via great talent fully immersed in creating value.
Everyone has the potential to be a Superboss. And every organization has the potential to become stocked from top to bottom with these extraordinary, talent-generating bosses.
What is the most important thing a leader, manager, or boss must do?
Creating the best talent pool is the most important thing any leader can do to survive, prosper and succeed.
Superbosses hold a set of 5 essential character traits in common: extreme confidence and even fearlessness, competitiveness, integrity, strict adherence to a core vision or sense of self authenticity—an imaginative nature.
Every superboss has a clear, bold vision, is brutally competitive, and fears nothing.
A superboss needs three essential qualities: vision, fearlessness, and competitiveness.
Such qualities should come naturally and should be part of who you are. That does not mean you cannot learn those or transform yourself. However, you must master them to achieve this level of transcendence as a leader.
VISION
Instead of seeing a problem or obstacle, a superboss sees a solution or opportunity to innovate. This ability is what makes a superboss a visionary individual.
FEARLESSNESS
Being comfortable is the number ONE enemy to growth.
You must take calculated risks to keep excelling yourself. Superbosses are fearless, risk-takers, executors, and positively recognize these attitudes in their teams.
As Robert Noyse, Intel co-founder, used to say, “No guts, no glory.”
COMPETITIVENESS WITH THEMSELVES AND THEIR TEAMS
Superbosses crave competition.
They seek it out, create it and take advantage of it.
Thanks to the competition, you evolve, push yourself, benchmark, and reach lands you have never conquered before.
Competition is an ally to innovate, dream beyond your limits and unlock your potential.
As they are competitive, they need a team that executes their vision. Superbosses demand a TOP in class team.
A superboss seeks out employees who are intelligent, creative, and flexible.
Intelligence is a top priority for superbosses when recruiting. A competent employee is a catalyst for effective collaboration, competition, and creativity within a team.
A competent team can contribute equally to unique goals without the apprehension of “slower” coworkers dragging the group down.
Superbosses look for diversity. They get super excited by team members who can think laterally and tackle challenges innovatively.
Creating a safe environment to fail and build is the perfect recipe to generate new solutions, outside-the-box thinking, and innovation.
CHARISMA
Superbosses are authentic individuals with respectable work integrity.
These outstanding leaders have something that creates a vortex around them, a personality that draws people in, energizes them, and inspires them. This “something” is often integrity and authenticity.
Superbosses demonstrate integrity by staying true to their core vision.
Superbosses possess energy about them. They are spicy, engaging, and exuberant because they make no pretenses.
COACHES
Superbosses challenge and encourage employees to push harder and strive for more.
A superboss isn’t just interested in what an employee can do. Superbosses want to know where an employee’s boundaries are and just how much further they can push them.
Working with a superboss means you’ll never be able to rest on your laurels. No matter how good the numbers are or how well your department is doing, a superboss will continually raise expectations.
Pushing the business forward and upward is a constant for superbosses.
They show their team members what they are truly capable of – unlocking levels of excellence they had never imagined!
Superbosses push their team outside their comfort zone and trust in them even before themselves.
Employees don’t just perform well because they’re forced to, but because the very presence of a superboss encourages them to do so. Superbosses are always confident, which inspires and motivates their team. And as a result, employee self-esteem grows, which boosts performance and productivity.
The superboss strategy for motivating employees has two sides. On one, a superboss pushes employees to their limits and beyond. Then, to sustain this, superbosses encourage people by allowing the confidence to spread the whole team. Everyone realizes their potential and how amazing they are, leading to the group willingly raising the bar to the next level.
How do superbosses unleash the creativity of the people around them?
Flexibility is crucial for creativity and innovation. Superbosses give intelligent and creative people new challenges that fit their potential more than their capabilities, skills, and education.
Creating a safe environment to fail and build is the perfect recipe to generate new solutions, outside-the-box thinking, and innovation.
Superbosses encourage constant risk-taking and rule-breaking. For most Superbosses, risk-taking alone isn't enough: employees are expected to take risks proactively.
To Superbosses, sacrificing a bit of order is well worth it if, in the process, you obtain the innovation, creativity, and dynamism that accompany informal relationships.
Superbosses can make any organization attractive as a talent magnet by empowering, motivating, and pushing their teams to exceptional standards.
Transform yourself into a superboss a make your company and employees under your care suceed!
In almost every company, coworkers talk about their disapproval of particular behaviors of their boss in confidence during breaks.
Being a leader means making tough decisions, and employees won’t always agree with what you decide.
But, you can inspire your team despite being challenging or demanding.
DEEP CONNECTION AND BONDING ARE CRUCIAL TO INSPIRING A TEAM.
Boost teamwork by creating powerful bonds and nurturing a little competitive spirit.
You need a powerfully connected team, working as a single unit to conquer your group’s and company’s goals.
So, how do you get your team there? By combining professional bonds with emotional ties.
Superbosses encourage two types of bonds in the workplace. Vertical bonds tie leaders to employees, while horizontal bonds help employees feel connected to each other. These bonds are remarkable to create a friendly rivalry environment to boost performance and productivity.
As a Superboss you will want to help employees ready for their next career stage as they seek new opportunities elsewhere.
Employees who make a great impression in a new position support your superboss branding of a "talent creator." This, in turn, makes the superboss's company attractive to other young talents, creating growth opportunities.
There are the three Superbosses: iconoclasts, inglorious bastards, and nurturers.
ICONOCLASTS
They possess an unwavering focus on their vision.
An iconoclast’s ability to teach and share knowledge makes them unforgettable. Working with them is like receiving a masterclass every day.
Often, this is so natural that they inspire without even intending to!
INGLORIOUS BASTARDS
They are characterized by their drive to win.
They aspire to greatness and do whatever is necessary to get there, even if it means pushing people out of the way.
Hire the best and fire fast.
They need a top-notch support team to achieve their magnificent and ambitious goals. They push their employees to perform at their peak, as failure is not an option. Through this, workers learn a lot.
Inglorious bastards can push their teams to extremes.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison is known for management by ridicule.
He scares his employees to force them to succeed! While such a strategy seems draconian, it works for Oracle.
The magazine BusinessWeek recently nominated Ellison as one of the industry’s most competitive individuals.
You could argue that this style may not suit everyone, but you can learn a lot from the approach.
NURTURERS
These are bosses who care and want to see employees grow.
We can also call them activist bosses, as they’re always ready to guide team members to ensure they thrive.
Simon Sinek’s advice is in line with this type of superboss.
Being your employee’s number one fan, believing in them will make them feel they cannot let you down, giving their best to your company.
What type of Superboss are you? or want to become in?
The three types are inspiring and show us that we can achieve excellence differently.
There is nothing more fulfilling for these leaders -nurturers- than knowing they are helping others achieve their dreams.
How do Superbosses hire their talent?
If a candidate seems to have what the Superboss is after, he won’t hesitate to overrule the human resources specialists. The Superboss’s quest for superstars will override everything else.
When Superbosses talk with prospective employees, they want, more than anything else, to hear how they think. They want a kind of brilliance that can be applied to many sorts of problems.
“If you are going to hire someone, make sure they are great; otherwise don’t hire anybody.” Bill Sanders, real estate businessman/investor
Superbosses adapt the job description to fit the person, rather than make the person fit the job.
Superbosses don’t simply urge their protégés to “hire well,” they emphasize the importance of hiring genuinely unusual talent and helping that talent fulfill all their potential and then some.
It’s hard to have extraordinary performance if you don’t have extraordinary talent.
All Superbosses, even the most supportive nurturers, drive their people exceptionally hard. Superbosses don't want merely strong performance; they expect world-class performance.
How is working for a Super boss like?
People know when they’re working for a superboss — someone who is changing the rules, is unafraid to take risks, profoundly cares about achieving a higher objective, and invites employees to be a part of it.
You perceive it as part of a gigantic, unbelievably important, exciting mission.
How Superbosses improve work systems and teams?
They protect the “why” of their business, but areprepared to constantly improve everything about the “how” of the business as if their life depended on it.
No singular rationale for how something is done is sacred. And anything can be changed if something better comes along.
Even the smallest executional tasks can be opportunities for doing something a little bit better, or even a lot better.
Superbosses encourage their people to rethink virtually everything else about their jobs.
The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang.
How to recognize or identify a Superboss?
Superbosses are consummate excellent hunters — always on the prowl for the next great product idea, the next significant trend, the next great person to hire.
Managers today tend to see work relationships as strictly transactional to them.
Superbosses invert the classic boss-subordinate relationship – not entirely but significantly. To a surprising degree, they join employees in getting their hands dirty with actual work, modeling behavior, and guiding employees.
THREE QUESTIONS THAT WILL HELP YOU DEFINE THE NEXT STEPS TO BECOME A SUPERBOSS
1. Do you have a vision for your business that inspires you, and do you use this vision to energize and inspire your team?
If you don’t have a vision, let’s backtrack a little. Why do you work? What makes a workday satisfying for you? What’s the importance of your work in the bigger picture?
You must learn to express your vision in one sentence. This sentence is what you should return to whenever you feel yourself losing motivation or feel your team needs a boost.
2. Do team members feel close to each other? Are they comfortable with one another?
You can find the answer by observing how much time your team spends socializing with each other outside the office or whether they keep in touch with people who leave the company.
3. How much time do you spend helping employees learn?
Do you allow them to tackle challenging tasks, despite the risks it might entail? How much faith do you have in your team’s success?
Answer them honestly to identify what you have missing to become a superboss.
Final Summary
The key message in this book:
Whether a superboss is an iconoclast, an inglorious bastard, or a nurturer, ALL HAVE A clear vision, are fearless, and embody a competitive spirit.
Charisma, work ethic, and authenticity are essential to become a superboss and create a unified team that supports each other. Become a superboss, and you will do great things for your employees and company!
Bonus Tip:
Next time you question yourself: what would be the best action from your side as a leader, ask yourself; what would a superboss do?
Author: Ruth Valverde A.
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The author researched 18 different industries to find the characteristics of the leaders capable of developing their teams and making each individual better as a professional.
I read the Kindle version of the book.
My insights from the book:
Let’s start with the basics. What is a superboss? Which unique qualities define a “superboss.”
A superboss is a leader who hire the best talent and develops them into iconic superstars within their industry. Every professional who wants to excel in their career, wants to work for a superboss.
Superbosses are known for having a clear vision, being fearless, and embodying a competitive spirit.
Their integrity, authenticity, and ability to push employees to do their best attract the intelligent, creative and flexible talent a company needs to succeed.
Superbosses have mastered something most bosses miss — a path to extraordinary success resides in making other people successful.
Superbosses obtained immense satisfaction from building a legacy.
A superboss is a leader known for having a clear vision, being fearless, and embodying a competitive spirit. Their integrity, authenticity, and ability to push employees to do their best attract the intelligent, creative and flexible talent a company needs to succeed.
Superbosses differ considerably in their interpersonal styles, but how they identify, motivate, coach, and leverage others are remarkably consistent, highly unconventional, and unmistakably powerful.
Remember! The primary path to winning as a leader is via great talent fully immersed in creating value.
Everyone has the potential to be a Superboss. And every organization has the potential to become stocked from top to bottom with these extraordinary, talent-generating bosses.
What is the most important thing a leader, manager, or boss must do?
Creating the best talent pool is the most important thing any leader can do to survive, prosper and succeed.
Superbosses hold a set of 5 essential character traits in common: extreme confidence and even fearlessness, competitiveness, integrity, strict adherence to a core vision or sense of self authenticity—an imaginative nature.
Every superboss has a clear, bold vision, is brutally competitive, and fears nothing.
A superboss needs three essential qualities: vision, fearlessness, and competitiveness.
Such qualities should come naturally and should be part of who you are. That does not mean you cannot learn those or transform yourself. However, you must master them to achieve this level of transcendence as a leader.
VISION
Instead of seeing a problem or obstacle, a superboss sees a solution or opportunity to innovate. This ability is what makes a superboss a visionary individual.
FEARLESSNESS
Being comfortable is the number ONE enemy to growth.
You must take calculated risks to keep excelling yourself. Superbosses are fearless, risk-takers, executors, and positively recognize these attitudes in their teams.
As Robert Noyse, Intel co-founder, used to say, “No guts, no glory.”
COMPETITIVENESS WITH THEMSELVES AND THEIR TEAMS
Superbosses crave competition.
They seek it out, create it and take advantage of it.
Thanks to the competition, you evolve, push yourself, benchmark, and reach lands you have never conquered before.
Competition is an ally to innovate, dream beyond your limits and unlock your potential.
As they are competitive, they need a team that executes their vision. Superbosses demand a TOP in class team.
A superboss seeks out employees who are intelligent, creative, and flexible.
Intelligence is a top priority for superbosses when recruiting. A competent employee is a catalyst for effective collaboration, competition, and creativity within a team.
A competent team can contribute equally to unique goals without the apprehension of “slower” coworkers dragging the group down.
Superbosses look for diversity. They get super excited by team members who can think laterally and tackle challenges innovatively.
Flexibility is crucial for creativity and innovation.
Superbosses give intelligent and creative people new challenges that fit their potential more than their capabilities, skills, and education.
Creating a safe environment to fail and build is the perfect recipe to generate new solutions, outside-the-box thinking, and innovation.
CHARISMA
Superbosses are authentic individuals with respectable work integrity.
These outstanding leaders have something that creates a vortex around them, a personality that draws people in, energizes them, and inspires them. This “something” is often integrity and authenticity.
Superbosses demonstrate integrity by staying true to their core vision.
COACHES
Superbosses challenge and encourage employees to push harder and strive for more.
A superboss isn’t just interested in what an employee can do. Superbosses want to know where an employee’s boundaries are and just how much further they can push them.
Working with a superboss means you’ll never be able to rest on your laurels. No matter how good the numbers are or how well your department is doing, a superboss will continually raise expectations.
Pushing the business forward and upward is a constant for superbosses.
They show their team members what they are truly capable of – unlocking levels of excellence they had never imagined!
Superbosses push their team outside their comfort zone and trust in them even before themselves.
Employees don’t just perform well because they’re forced to, but because the very presence of a superboss encourages them to do so. Superbosses are always confident, which inspires and motivates their team. And as a result, employee self-esteem grows, which boosts performance and productivity.
The superboss strategy for motivating employees has two sides. On one, a superboss pushes employees to their limits and beyond. Then, to sustain this, superbosses encourage people by allowing the confidence to spread the whole team. Everyone realizes their potential and how amazing they are, leading to the group willingly raising the bar to the next level.
Transform yourself into a superboss a make your company and employees under your care suceed!
In almost every company, coworkers talk about their disapproval of particular behaviors of their boss in confidence during breaks.
Being a leader means making tough decisions, and employees won’t always agree with what you decide.
But, you can inspire your team despite being challenging or demanding.
DEEP CONNECTION AND BONDING ARE CRUCIAL TO INSPIRING A TEAM.
Boost teamwork by creating powerful bonds and nurturing a little competitive spirit.
You need a powerfully connected team, working as a single unit to conquer your group’s and company’s goals.
So, how do you get your team there? By combining professional bonds with emotional ties.
Superbosses encourage two types of bonds in the workplace. Vertical bonds tie leaders to employees, while horizontal bonds help employees feel connected to each other. These bonds are remarkable to create a friendly rivalry environment to boost performance and productivity.
As a Superboss you will want to help employees ready for their next career stage as they seek new opportunities elsewhere. Employees who make a great impression in a new position support your superboss branding of a “talent creator.” This, in turn, makes the superboss’s company attractive to other young talents, creating growth opportunities.
There are the three Superbosses: iconoclasts, inglorious bastards, and nurturers.
ICONOCLASTS
They possess an unwavering focus on their vision.
An iconoclast’s ability to teach and share knowledge makes them unforgettable. Working with them is like receiving a masterclass every day.
Often, this is so natural that they inspire without even intending to!
INGLORIOUS BASTARDS
They are characterized by their drive to win.
They aspire to greatness and do whatever is necessary to get there, even if it means pushing people out of the way.
Hire the best and fire fast.
They need a top-notch support team to achieve their magnificent and ambitious goals. They push their employees to perform at their peak, as failure is not an option. Through this, workers learn a lot.
Inglorious bastards can push their teams to extremes.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison is known for management by ridicule.
He scares his employees to force them to succeed! While such a strategy seems draconian, it works for Oracle.
The magazine BusinessWeek recently nominated Ellison as one of the industry’s most competitive individuals.
You could argue that this style may not suit everyone, but you can learn a lot from the approach.
NURTURERS
These are bosses who care and want to see employees grow.
We can also call them activist bosses, as they’re always ready to guide team members to ensure they thrive.
Simon Sinek’s advice is in line with this type of superboss.
Being your employee’s number one fan, believing in them will make them feel they cannot let you down, giving their best to your company.
What type of Superboss are you? or want to become in?
The three types are inspiring and show us that we can achieve excellence differently.
THREE QUESTIONS THAT WILL HELP YOU DEFINE THE NEXT STEPS TO BECOME A SUPERBOSS
1. Do you have a vision for your business that inspires you, and do you use this vision to energize and inspire your team?
If you don’t have a vision, let’s backtrack a little. Why do you work? What makes a workday satisfying for you? What’s the importance of your work in the bigger picture?
You must learn to express your vision in one sentence. This sentence is what you should return to whenever you feel yourself losing motivation or feel your team needs a boost.
2. Do team members feel close to each other? Are they comfortable with one another?
You can find the answer by observing how much time your team spends socializing with each other outside the office or whether they keep in touch with people who leave the company.
3. How much time do you spend helping employees learn?
Do you allow them to tackle challenging tasks, despite the risks it might entail? How much faith do you have in your team’s success?
Answer them honestly to identify what you have missing to become a superboss.
Final Summary
The key message in this book:
Whether a superboss is an iconoclast, an inglorious bastard, or a nurturer, ALL HAVE A clear vision, are fearless, and embody a competitive spirit.
Charisma, work ethic, and authenticity are essential to become a superboss and create a unified team that supports each other. Become a superboss, and you will do great things for your employees and company!
Bonus Tip:
Next time you question yourself: what would be the best action from your side as a leader, ask yourself; what would a superboss do?
Author: Ruth Valverde A.
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