Kindle
$11.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$9.98
Paperback
$14.76
Buy new:
-26% $14.76
FREE delivery Tuesday, June 4 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$14.76 with 26 percent savings
List Price: $19.99

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Tuesday, June 4 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 31. Order within 14 hrs 32 mins
In Stock
$$14.76 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$14.76
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$8.95
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery June 11 - 18 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery June 10 - 13
$$14.76 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$14.76
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Robert I. Sutton
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best... and Learn from the Worst Paperback – March 15, 2012

by Robert I. Sutton PhD (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 448 ratings
See all formats and editions
Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
iphone with kindle app
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.

Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.

View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.

Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.

Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Get the free Kindle app: Link to the kindle app page Link to the kindle app page
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.
View Kindle Edition
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$14.76","priceAmount":14.76,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"76","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"Wlb8UCXMRNKiEplbkkS14NKjialldaYkQooneqddkukxkpCNKXNzCavlACYM7hwt4RDJKU8jnKVfu4qq3wF7P3yFuWUql75Bv9zetkvqzQMzrEFDVrDpaVXfuTcB12AIt67pEGe2qWwTF%2BLS01Vt8g%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$8.95","priceAmount":8.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"8","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"Wlb8UCXMRNKiEplbkkS14NKjialldaYkZqKfemCrY5hrqSieCMSu2ZG2oczwMnBC4r1QoUqn2X27xavDJ%2BKyqo16CX4ok2rQQYflIGmDQ71ebzovbtJhf6L9rPxY6aJ9%2FwB1huVQHjbLsim%2BiEBGbVAj8uuRwCbxIjcluqlM2qynnKrFNQh9cm9hZ13i6uMg","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Now with a new chapter that focuses on what great bosses really do. Dr. Sutton reveals new insights that he's learned since the writing of Good Boss, Bad Boss. Sutton adds revelatory thoughts about such legendary bosses as Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, A.G. Lafley, and many more, and how you can implement their techniques.

If you are a boss who wants to do great work, what can you do about it? Good Boss, Bad Boss is devoted to answering that question. Stanford Professor Robert Sutton weaves together the best psychological and management research with compelling stories and cases to reveal the mindset and moves of the best (and worst) bosses. This book was inspired by the deluge of emails, research, phone calls, and conversations that Dr. Sutton experienced after publishing his blockbuster bestseller The No Asshole Rule. He realized that most of these stories and studies swirled around a central figure in every workplace: THE BOSS. These heart-breaking, inspiring, and sometimes funny stories taught Sutton that most bosses - and their followers - wanted a lot more than just a jerk-free workplace. They aspired to become (or work for) an all-around great boss, somebody with the skill and grit to inspire superior work, commitment, and dignity among their charges.

As Dr. Sutton digs into the nitty-gritty of what the best (and worst) bosses do, a theme runs throughout Good Boss, Bad Boss - which brings together the diverse lessons and is a hallmark of great bosses: They work doggedly to "stay in tune" with how their followers (and superiors, peers, and customers too) react to what they say and do.

The best bosses are acutely aware that their success depends on having the self-awareness to control their moods and moves, to accurately interpret their impact on others, and to make adjustments on the fly that continuously spark effort, dignity, and pride among their people.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Balance
  4. Publication date
    March 15, 2012
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.25 x 8.2 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0446556076
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0446556071
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Frequently bought together

Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best... and Learn from the Worst
$14.76
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jun 4
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
$16.86
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jun 4
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Asshole Survival Guide: How to Deal with People Who Treat You Like Dirt
$6.99
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jun 4
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
spCSRF_Control
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is the personal coach that every boss deserves: warm, smart, and freakishly good at translating scientific reserach into practical tips that will help keep you at the top of your game.―Chip & Dan Heath, authors of Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard

I loved this book - immediately my favorite business book. There are so many great principles and ideas to live up to, backed up by real data - it should be every boss' responsibility to read and understand it.―John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla Corporation, producer of the Firefox web browser

Good Boss, Bad Boss does a wonderful job of challenging conventional wisdom while outlining a clear and compelling rationale for thinking differently. From Sutton's useful steps for getting "in tune" with what it feels like to work for you, to evidence that eliminating the negative is more powerful than accentuating the positive, to the importance of demonstrating confidence with the admission that you're not always right. Good Boss, Bad Boss teaches the art and the science of practical leadership for the 21st century. I would consider it a must-read for anyone looking to improve their impact and accelerate their desired outcomes.―Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit

We are damned lucky to have Bob Sutton. While his every word is backed up by significant research, he writes in simple sentences that make enormous sense. Typical in this book, Sutton's little chart in Chapter 3, 'Smart Versus Wise Bosses,' is worth, all by itself, 100 times the price of admission. Good Boss, Bad Boss is as good as it gets.―Tom Peters, author of The Little Big Things and co-author of In Search of Excellence

It has been damn near impossible to find consistently good and objective insight and analysis from business thought leaders. But Robert I. Sutton, a professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford and the Stanford Institute of Design (where we have overlapped), is an exception. His new book, out now, is his best to date. Good Boss, Bad Boss is food for thought for managers and leaders in organizations large and small. It is packed with insight, lists of "how to" suggestions, and questions for bosses to ask themselves.―Reuters

About the Author

Robert Sutton is Professor of Management Science and Engineering at the Stanford Engineering School. The No Asshole Rule was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Balance; unknown edition (March 15, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0446556076
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0446556071
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.25 x 8.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 448 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Robert I. Sutton

Robert I. Sutton

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Robert Sutton is a Stanford Professor, organizational researcher, and best-selling author. His seven management books include bestsellers The No A**hole Rule, Good Boss, Bad Boss, and (with Huggy Rao) Scaling Up Excellence. His latest book is The A**hole Survival Guide:How to Deal With People Who Treat You Like Dirt.

Sutton was named as one of 10 B-School All-Stars by BusinessWeek, described as professors who are influencing contemporary business thinking far beyond academia. Sutton is an IDEO Fellow and co-founder of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Center for Work and and Stanford Design Institute (the d.school). His latest adventure at Stanford is the Designing Organizational Change project, which you can learn about at http://stvp.stanford.edu/doc. He has written over 150 academic and popular articles and chapters, and over 1000 blog posts. He often leads workshops and gives speeches about his books and is academic director of several Stanford executive programs including Customer-focused Innovation. Sutton tweets @work_matters. Visit www.bobsutton.net to learn more.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
448 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Wanderer
5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book, excellent follow up to the last book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2010
Verified Purchase
As an avid fan of Robert Sutton's previous work (the no ***hole rule), I picked this one up just in time to take it on vacation with me overseas. Once I cracked it open, I simply couldn't put it back down and plowed through it in a couple days.

As with the last book, this one is a fun read both in terms of literary style as well as the content itself. It's not just rehashing common sense with anecdotes from the author's experiences or those of people he interviewed, but a genuine attempt to weave these things together into a cohesive narrative that is built on actual research. The author, as with his previous work, successfully marries together both entertaining story telling and new knowledge in this book, which is something you rarely find in books of this sort.

The flow of the book is fairly excellent, with many of the topics staying on track from start to finish and meshing well from one chapter to the next. You don't find yourself having to jump around from place to place to pick up or re-read previous points, because everything proceeds in a fairly nice linear fashion from start to finish, as it should. I abhor books where the author references past chapters or, far worse, chapters you haven't gotten to yet, but Sutton doesn't seem to do much of that at all.

In terms of actual, applicable learning, I think this book is actually one of the few in this genre that made me think and helped me reshape the way I look at not only my boss, but how to define a good or bad boss. Lots of times we inherently want to believe those kinds of distinctions are black and white, but Sutton does a good job of delving into why it's more of a gray area, especially when you take a broader view. In reality, bosses are rarely good all around or bad all around, but instead some kind of a mix.

In the end, Sutton does an outstanding job of not just highlighting what makes a bad boss, but also explaining why those things make someone a bad boss. I think the latter is far more important and provides a much better learning opportunity for people leaders and employees alike. Sutton also helps his readers to understand not just how good and bad bosses think, but also to some extent helps us understand why employees think the way they do about their leaders.

Overall this was a great read and I do feel like it challenged some of my previous beliefs and did impart some genuinely new knowledge. It sounds funny say that, but in this day and age you can't always make that claim after reading a book, especially in this field.

If you liked Sutton's last book, you definitely need to pick this one up. It's a natural follow up and you'll probably enjoy it even more than the first.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Thordur Gudmundsson
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2023
Verified Purchase
As a group leader this has been a book to learn from. I will put it in my library to read it again.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Robert B. Mintz, Ph.D.
5.0 out of 5 stars Quintessential Sutton
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2010
Verified Purchase
When was the last time you read an engaging, spot-on, crisp, in-your-face, business book . . . whose resonance not only made you laugh but also made you wonder what you were thinking by getting into organizational life in the first place? Right, probably Bob's LAST book!

As a recovering corporate type who now consults on organizational and leaderhship issues I encounter the grim realities that Bob captures powerfully on a daily basis. Bob nails the rise in incredibly bad behavior on the part of (usually) well-intended but flat-out over-worked senior leaders. We are pounding ourselves and our people so hard for short term results of any kind that we have forgotten how to get the best out of them. We have never needed peak levels of creativity, engagement, and risk-taking by our very best people. But what do we do? We unwittingly create toxic cultures of fear and risk aversion and when it doesn't work out or our best people bail we look everywhere but into the mirror to find culpability.

Most of my clients are getting this as a gift (though they claim they don't have time to read). This smart, wry, and witty indictment is MOST required for those who profess they don't have time to read anything. And it's not just another guy talking about the problems. It's all about solutions. If you pick one book to read as you think about your business and talent challenges in 2011, THIS is one you will be glad to own.
18 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jonathan Littman
5.0 out of 5 stars Authentic Stories and Novel Insights
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2010
Verified Purchase
Bob Sutton launched an international revolution with his brutally honest bestseller, the No A**hole Rule, and in his latest book he's turned his deep experience and knowledge about what makes a lousy boss into becoming a good one.

What's refreshing in these authentic and often humorous pages is that the solutions are not formulas. Being a good boss requires a myriad of wise "little ways" to eke out improvements, and a very big one, being a decent person. We learn the importance of Lasorda's Law, how George Washington used an aura of confidence "to learn on the job," and how a NASCAR pit crew manager innovated to turn saved seconds into victories.

Sutton tells it like it is, and it's worth the price of admission just to find out the name of the Hollywood Producer Jerk who ejected his assistant onto the side of a freeway for the crime of looking at him in the rear view mirror, and to learn the critical lessons of a chapter entitled "Squelch Your Inner Bosshole."

Sutton knows more about the thin line between a good or bad boss, and understands it's a daily human skirmish, less about meeting goals and quarterly numbers and more about understanding our need to produce, create, share and be appreciated. But you won't find happy talk here. Some of my favorite stories are inside gems about how cleverly orchestrated conflict delivers results, how Brad Bird of Pixar sought out "malcontents" to produce the hit movie "The Incredibles," or how the Senior Editor of The Onion maintains creativity every week in a 3-day brainstorm.

Leave your novel at home and put this valuable book in a visible spot at your cube or on your desk. It's bound to be the subject of conversation. Who knows, your boss may even thank you.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Eric Suh
3.0 out of 5 stars Decent and entertaining management book
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2018
Verified Purchase
Most of the book is a series of examples on the importance of being a humane, self-aware, and capable boss.

I would say that it likely preaches somewhat to the choir, in that arrogant and self-aware bosses are unlikely to be swayed by the book (or even read it), while good bosses (or those trying to be good bosses) are likely to already hold to these principles. That said, it is a useful reality check that even the best people, in bad circumstances, can fall prey to being bad bosses, and in that, the book does decently well. But it could do that in many fewer words.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Andreas M
5.0 out of 5 stars Der Titel sagt alles
Reviewed in Germany on March 23, 2021
Verified Purchase
Ziemlich genial
Kompetent, verständlich und klar
Report
Cliente de Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars recomendable para entender a los jefes y para ser un buen jefe
Reviewed in Mexico on November 8, 2019
Verified Purchase
muy buena lectura para ser un buen jefe y evitar a los malos jefes, no se deje llevar por términos cotidianos que utiliza, la sustancia de las lecturas es lo que vale.
Report
Mama
5.0 out of 5 stars Must have
Reviewed in Canada on November 5, 2019
Verified Purchase
Loved it , quick read and so much great success plans
Report
R. Sampathkumar
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in India on September 26, 2017
Verified Purchase
Solid practical advice, with lots of food for thought and reflection, by Bob Sutton.
Report
Humphrey Schillevoort
4.0 out of 5 stars Leerzaam en makkelijk te lezen.
Reviewed in the Netherlands on December 29, 2016
Verified Purchase
Good boss, bad boss is een makkelijk te lezen en leerzaam boek. Het is goed gedocumenteerd waarbij de schrijver blijk geeft van een grote ervaring en academische belezenheid. Ik heb het boek aangeschaft na het volgen van de MOOC daarover en die combinatie is aan te raden. Het boek is aan te bevelen aan studenten managementwetenschappen, maar ook aan managers en management consultants.
Report