Better Than Perfect: How Gifted Bosses and Great Employees Can Lift the Performance of Those Around Them

With the crisp style and provocative insights that have made him a leading syndicated columnist, Dale Dauten explores how the best bosses, employees and suppliers think, learn, and communicate differently. The title of his new book is taken from his conversation with the late Jean-Pierre Rampal, who reigned for decades as the world's leading flute player. When asked about his willingness to experiment with his technique, Rampal thought a long moment, then said, "Some nights I go out and play a piece perfectly. Then, the next night, I play it better." In his previous book, The Gifted Boss, Dauten detailed what he learned from his search for the country's best managers. Now with Better Than Perfect, he expands his research to include "best-ever" colleagues at every level. Dale Dauten writes two newspaper columns, both nationally syndicated by King Features: "The Corporate Curmudgeon" and "Kate and Dale Talk Jobs" (with employment expert Kate Wendleton). His work appears weekly in over a hundred newspapers, including The Denver Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Arizona Republic, and Houston Chronicle. In addition, Dale has authored five books. Dale's background as a manager with two major corporations, an executive with two consulting companies, and head of his own nationally-known marketing research firm, has allowed him the opportunity to work with leading organizations, including McDonalds, Procter & Gamble and 3M. As founder of The Innovators' Lab, he has also done innovation work with Georgia-Pacific, United Auto Group, General Dynamics, Caterpillar and NASA. Dale lives in Tempe, Arizona, with his wife and three children.