Robert Sutton, professor of management science and engineering at Stanford, spoke to an overflow audience in the NVIDIA Auditorium Wednesday about his new book, Good Boss, Bad Boss.

A guest speaker for Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar, Sutton highlighted some aphorisms, stories and principles of leadership from his book.

Sutton indicated that he is among the growing ranks of management gurus who cast doubts about the efficacy of the annual performance review. "If performance evaluations were a pill," he said, "it would never get FDA approval. The results are about 50-50."

Regarding evaluation of bosses, Sutton said, "If you are in a position of authority,  you will get more blame and more credit than you deserve for group performance."

Sutton summarized his five hallmarks of good bosses—assertiveness, wisdom, using a "small wins" strategy, eliminating negatives and serving as a human shield.

He quoted Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda on assertiveness: "I believe managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly, you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it."

Sutton thinks that sometimes the best management is no management at all. For example, sending too many "How's it going?" e-mails stifles creativity.

Bosses need to hear the truth. Too often they are swayed by false flattery. It's important to correct very quickly when you realize that you're wrong. 

Using a "small wins" strategy instead of chasing after a "big hairy goal" was the secret of success for at least one CEO. He championed an audacious record-breaking sales campaign by chopping the overall goal into small pieces that the employees could effectively handle.

"Eliminating the negatives" to Sutton means getting rid of both stars and rotten apples. Stars are typically overpaid commission salespeople who put their own interests ahead of team performance. A real superstar gets ahead by helping others succeed. Rotten apples can knock down team performance by as much 30 percent.

Bosses who serve as "human shields" enable their subordinates to get the work done, often by "ignoring and defying idiocy from on high." Sutton said that just having meetings that start and end on time helps to promote group performance.

Sutton's parting thought about how to predict whether a boss will be good or bad is to ask people how they feel after talking with the boss. Are they more or less energized?

One audience member asked who Sutton considers the best corporate leader today. Sutton replied that he thought very highly of former Proctor & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley. "Here in Silicon Valley, we have lousy leaders; they are saved by technology," Sutton said. "I'm under-whelmed. Larry Ellison as head of P&G would last four minutes!"

Another question was, "How do you get a bad boss to realize that he's bad?" Sutton replied that you have to calculate your situation to determine the risk to you of taking action. Joining with co-workers to document the boss's problems is better than going it alone.

Sutton ended on a positive note, announcing that a recent research study indicated that 80 percent of American employees say their bosses are competent.