
Learn what superboss leaders do to find great talent, recruit them, inspire and energize teams, unleash creativity, and build networks that sustain high performance.
Identify your best and worst bosses and write the actions that made them great. Use these insights to recalibrate your leadership approach as you begin the Super Boss Playbook.
Discover how a superboss creates and regenerates talent across industries, with examples from Alice Waters, Bill Walsh, Ralph Lauren, and Miles Davis.
Superbosses display fearless confidence, instill healthy risk-taking to nurture talent, and stay relentlessly competitive. They embody authenticity, integrity, and imagination, constantly seeking creative, new approaches.
Explore the three superboss types—nurturers, iconoclasts, and glorious bastards—and how each elevates talent and drives high performance.
Discover the five key elements of the super boss playbook, from recruiting unusual talent to building networks, and learn to energize teams, unleash creativity, and develop talents.
The super boss playbook reveals four universal talent traits for world class teams: competitiveness, intelligence, versatility, and creativity, shown through hiring and rotating talent across roles to spark innovation.
Every manager should be a talent scout, spotting potential in everyday moments, from baristas to future hires, and hire without a job description, like the Ralph Lauren anecdote.
Discover untapped talent pools by identifying groups overlooked in hiring, such as ex-NFL players, women in advertising, veterans, and ex-cons, to boost diversity and leadership potential.
Discover the it factor by using a hands-on activity and worksheet to assess empathy, relationship skills, and communication, then measure candidates with real assignments and role plays.
Create a performance-driven culture by setting high expectations and demanding performance from the team. Drive toward perfection while starting now, encouraging people to show up, work smart, and produce results.
Learn how to combine high performance with authentic inspiration to boost confidence and engagement among your team. Discover practices that make your people feel chosen, energized, and ready to act.
Craft a compelling vision to give teams meaning and purpose, energizing performance. Illustrate power with examples from Alice Waters and George Lucas, who attract talent and drive a high-performance culture.
Team up to craft a highlight reel of your accomplishments, sharing how you overcome adversity, then brainstorm with the worksheet to reinforce, update, and edit the story, inspiring your team.
Unleash creativity by embracing change and a risk-oriented mindset, inviting diverse ideas while defending your point of view and teaching each other toward a shared vision.
Explore how Super Boss leaders empower millennials by giving them a seat at the table, unleashing their creativity, and creating high-impact opportunities that keep them engaged.
Embrace experimentation and tolerate a degree of failure to unleash creativity, while ensuring learning for you and your team. Model non-punitive reflection on mistakes and encourage bold, innovative behavior.
Superboss leaders revive the master-apprentice relationship through constant one-on-one teaching, coaching teams in the trenches to share goals, values, and practical insights.
Learn the hands-on delegation approach that blends big delegation with ongoing involvement, avoiding micromanagement while coaching and guiding teams to mastery in a master-apprentice style.
Superboss leaders act as opportunity spotters, giving big chances to team members and then gradually removing the safety net to build confidence and growth.
Unleash master-apprentice relationships by customizing how you work with each team member. Adapt your feedback, support, and approach to each person to boost engagement, motivation, and performance.
Discover how the cohort effect builds a horizontal, learning environment where superboss leaders develop exceptional people, connect them into a bonded team, and foster identity through strong, lasting connectedness.
Super boss leaders blend collaboration with competition to boost team performance. The SNL example shows raising your game while collaborating with teammates for scarce resources and airtime.
Apply the superboss mindset to train and expand your network, embracing departures as opportunities to keep talent engaged, leverage former proteges for ongoing collaboration, and protect long-term return on investment.
Identify former employees in your network and build a former employee logbook. Stay in touch via calls, texts, and emails using the provided template to grow a world-class network.
Identify great and untapped talent, set high expectations, and unleash creativity to energize your team with a vision for the people in your team.
Do you want to know how the best managers generate and re-generate exceptional talent? Are you ready to learn how to lead from the best of the best? If so, The Superboss Playbook for Managers is your opportunity to learn the best practices used by top industry leaders to shape unconventional, creative, and high-performance talent.
So what is a superboss? In short, a superboss is a leader who creates other leaders. They have particular characteristics and leadership styles that help them develop talent in ways unlike your average manager. Superbosses are always at the top of their industries and aim to get the best out of the people that work for them, in turn producing other industry leaders. You may recognize the names of some famous superbosses, such as Ralph Lauren, Lorne Michaels, and Larry Ellison, but you don't need to be a household name to be a superboss. ANYONE CAN BE A SUPERBOSS, and this course gives you a step-by-step playbook to adopt the most important superboss practices.
My name is Sydney Finkelstein, and I've been a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College for 25 years. My book Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent was the result of a 10-year research project into the secrets of the superboss. I interviewed hundreds of individuals, spanning many industries, but superbosses all have one thing in common - they spawn top-tier talent. I've created this course to give you insight into how these managers work with their employees to achieve phenomenal success and how you can too.
Specifically, this course will cover:
What a superboss is, including the characteristics and types of superbosses
How to determine the superboss traits you currently have and those you can develop
Recruiting exceptional (and often unusual) talent
Energizing and motivating your team using high expectations and an uncompromising vision
Unleashing creativity by embracing change, taking risks, and learning from mistakes
Embracing your role as a teacher and developing your employees using a master-apprentice relationship
Building collaborative and competitive teams and lucrative employee networks
I've also included activities in every section to help you put these lessons into practice immediately within your teams. While the lectures are meant to give you insight into how other superbosses have succeeded, the activities are your chance to start establishing your own superboss identity. Use the activities as stepping stones to figure out which superboss practices work well for you and your team.
I know that this course will not only introduce you to how the best managers lead their teams and industries, but will provide you with actionable tips to start leading like a superboss today. If you're ready to take your leadership and talent management to the next level, please join me in this course!
CPE (Continuing Professional Education)
Learning Objectives
Describe the characteristics of a superboss.
List the three different types of superbosses.
Recognize what superbosses look for in the people they hire.
Explain why superbosses are attracted to untapped talent pools.
State how superbosses motivate their employees.
Describe why vision is important.
Describe how superbosses unleash the creativity of the people around them.
Define the term “opportunity spotter.”
Recognize what superbosses do differently than other bosses when it comes to developing talent.
Describe why superbosses value their networks so much.
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