Much more useful than it's predecessor "First Break All the Rules", because it not only reinforces the validity of the initial research, it provides examples of real managers who generated real results by practicing the elements, and provides examples for how to implement the elements in practice. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"Customer surveys, resignations, accidents, productivity, sick days, creativity, sales, and profitability. When analyzed together, the 12 elements and the business metrics show that higher levels of [employee] engagement reduce accidents, decrease resignations, spur greater creativity, boost customer scores and productivity, and ultimately strengthen a team’s profitability. These various effects combine to create an appreciable competitive advantage."

“One of the dumbest things companies do is to try to make their human resources more productive while fighting what makes them human. They also demonstrate that great managing is not some amorphous, difficult to quantify concept. The data give a clear image of what is most important for inspiring people to do what the company needs of them."

"I’d like to follow you, but I don’t know where you’re going.” "Because so much of an enterprises efficiency depends on the seamless combination of personal responsibilities, the first element of great managing is job clarity." (1st Element)

"One of the truly remarkable things about workgroups is that they can make 2 + 2 = 5. Of course, they also have the capability of making 2 + 2 = 3. If a team lacks a strong work ethic and sense of responsibility to each other, the group becomes a convenient place to hide a little slothfulness, to push some work the other guy, or to point fingers." (9th Element)

“The majority of workers will meet cooperation with cooperation, and will meet selfishness with selfishness. Therefore, in the beginning, every team is poised to go into two vicious circles - one spirals downward into every man for himself, the other spirals upward into 'all for one and one for all’" (9th Element)

“The dilemma is that some of the abilities that make a person good at performing a job are the same abilities needed to realize whether he is failing or succeeding. If an employee isn’t talented, knowledgeable, or skilled enough to do a good job, there’s a good chance he’s not talented, knowledgeable or skilled enough to know he’s blowing it." (11th Element)

“Where a manager is regularly checking in with an employee, [the employee] is more likely to consider herself properly compensated for her work, more likely to plan on staying with the company, and more than twice as likely to recommend the company to others as a great place to work." (11th Element)

"One of the best things a senior executive can do to motivate the entire population in a company is to first look out for the enterprises supervisors. Before a person can deliver what he should as a manager, he must first receive what he needs as an employee."

"In our studies of hundreds of thousands of managers and work teams around the globe, it is very clear that great managers have an instinctive awareness that what they are doing is contributing more than profit. Great managers achieve sustained profitability because they make a connection to something beyond profit. They see the result of their work in the life of each person they manage."

I really liked this book but I think it helps if you're already familiar with the Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement survey. If you aren't familiar with it then this book probably won't be as meaningful though you could still understand the concepts and apply them. I'm actually not a manager but did feel like I gained a lot of insight into the survey from this book. I felt that some of the chapters didn't seem to flow that well, like they would jump from one example to another then go back to the first one without there really being a good connection between it all. However, I did find the examples and stories interesting especially because they were from various industries and fields that I am not too familiar with. I think managers and leaders can definitely learn a lot from this book regarding employee engagement and if your company has taken the Q12 Engagement survey then I would definitely recommend this book to give you more insight and ideas into how to create a more engaged population of employees.

This book had management theories test by the Gallup poll people. While the table of contents looked interesting, it really did not seem like anything new.