Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent

Sydney Finkelstein Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent Portfolio/Penguin Publishers, 2016 $16.66 (hard cover), 220 pagesMost of us will encounter a wide range of bosses over our work experience; some terrible, some quite good, and some that might even be great. However, we rarely experience a truly exceptional boss who is transformational and becomes the standard by which all other bosses are measured. But if we do experience such a "Superboss," what exactly makes that boss so special? The book Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent provides an interesting and engaging answer.Author Sidney Finkelstein (Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth) is a very competent writer and stellar scholar, who keeps the reader's interest for the majority of the 220 pages and nine chapters of the book. This is partly due to how the author intersperses intriguing details from over 200 interviews that he conducted and synthesizes over a decade of research on an array of CEOs, artists, and entrepreneurs. The breadth of sources that Finkelstein draws from is impressive. Leaders such as Lorne Michaels, Bill Walsh, George Lucas, Miles Davis, Ralph Lauren and Oprah, to name a few, demonstrate the diversity inherent in the Superboss idea. Finkelstein shows that Superbosses, despite their apparent differences, share key attributes, practices and perspectives, which are skillfully drawn out from the litany of anecdotes and personal stories. At the core, Superbosses tend to exhibit certain behaviors and practices, such as cultivation and selection of extraordinary talent, passionate uncompromising vision, willingness to accept new ideas, and creation of a culture of competition and cooperation.The book starts by describing three main types of Superboss: Iconoclasts, Glorious Bastards, and Nurturers. Iconoclasts are characterized by their work and passion, and are typically the artists. For Iconoclasts, "their mission in life is to express what is inside them; to let the rest of us in on what they see, feel and hear" (p. 25). And through their "single-minded" passion, they inspire others, gathering around themselves devoted followers. Iconoclasts are adept at seizing young, untapped talent, and placing them in demanding situations, and accept nothing but their best, all in the name of creating art. Iconoclasts provide freedom for exceptional protegees and colleagues to explore their own limits, but always within the confines of the driving passion and vision of the leader.Glorious Bastards are leaders focused on winning, and at any cost. These Superbosses seem unlikely to provide the environment for personal thriving, but instead they "understand that in order to win, they need the best people and the best teams" (p. 27). Again, the focus is on cultivating and developing talent. Pushing talent to extremes is a common theme among Superbosses, but Glorious Bastards do it in such a way that they can engender passionate dislike and disdain among employees. However, according to Finkelstein, that results in deep respect among their employees and a fast-track career for those who can keep up. The prototypical Glorious Bastard is Larry Ellison of Oracle. According to his employees, Ellison employed "management by ridicule" and intimidation instead of teamwork due to his unbelievably competitive nature. However, this is compensated easily by a "turbocharged career" (p. 28).Nurturers are the more caring, feeling type of leader. The Nurturer is deeply interested in his subordinates, and provides intense, meticulous, personalized feedback and attention. They are similar to a servant leader, placing great emphasis on the success of followers. They will celebrate their employees who graduate on to bigger things, and will remain committed and available to those who move on.Whether one is an Iconoclast, Glorious Bastard or Nurturer, the trait running through each type of Superboss is an ability to find and develop exceptional talent. …