Book Brief: How to Become a Great Boss: The Rules for Getting and Keeping the Best Employees

By Jeffrey J. Fox

Hyperion Books, May 2002

176 pages, $16.95

Part inspiration ("what you say to someone in 60 seconds can stick with them for 60 years"), part advice ("hire slowly, fire quickly"), Fox, a consultant, has created a valentine to managers everywhere. Picture Chicken Soup for the Manager's Soul. The prose can get cloying at times (the chapter heading for a brief discussion on delegating is "Don't Hire a Dog and Bark Yourself"), but the overarching message is motivation, and the point made over and over again, for both you and your employees, is to strive for a slightly higher goal. There is worse airplane reading.