"That reminds me of some friends of mine," the young man said. "They called me and said they'd gotten a new dog. They asked me what I thought of their planned method of training the dog."

The manager was almost afraid to ask, "How were they going to do it?"

"They said if the dog had an accident on the rug, they were going to take the dog, shove his nose in it, pound him on the butt with a newspaper and then throw the dog out this little window in the kitchen into the back yard - where the dog was supposed to do his job.

"Then they asked me what I thought would happen with this method. I laughed because I knew what would happen. After about three days the dog would poop on the floor and jump out the window. The dog didn't know what to do, but he knew he had better clear the area."

The manager roared his approval.

[ skipped a few pages ]

"There is, in fact, a story in ancient China that illustrates this. Once upon a time, an emperor appointed a second in command. He called this prime minister in and, in effect, said to him, Why don't we divide up the tasks? Why don't you do all the punishing and I'll do all the rewarding? The prime minister said, Fine. I'll do all the punishing and you do all the rewarding."

"I think I'm going to like this story," the young man said.

"You will, you will," the One Minute Manager replied with a knowing smile.

"Now this emperor," the manager continued, "soon noticed that whenever he asked someone to do something, they might do it or they might not do it. However, when the prime minister spoke, people moved. So the emperor called the prime minister back in and said, Why don't we divide the tasks again? You have been doing all the punishing here for quite a while. Now let me do the punishing and you do the rewarding. So the prime minister and the emperor switched roles again."

"And within a month the prime minister was emperor. The emperor had been a nice person, rewarding and being kind to everyone; then he started to punish people. People said, What's wrong with the old codger? and they threw him out on his ear. When they came to look for a replacement, they said, You know who's really starting to come around now - the prime minister. So they put him right into office."

"Is that a true story?" the young man asked.

"Who cares?" said the One Minute Manager, laughing. "Seriously," he added, "I do know this. If you are first tough on the behavior, and then supportive of the person, it works."

My friend Vinny from work gave me The One Minute Manager saying it would be worth my time. It really was. This book is concise and makes some great points. If you can put up with the cheesiness, it's a good tool for anyone who wants to be a successful manager.