The No Asshole Rule
posted in Management |
This book is about assholes and fighting them. The back cover summarizes the content of book very nicely: The definitive guide to working with—and surviving—Bullies, Creeps, Jerks, Tyrants, Tormentors, Despots, Back stabbers, Egomaniacs, and all the other assholes who do their best to destroy you at work.
In this book Robert Sutton, a professor of Management Science at the Stanford University expands on his article More Trouble than They’re Worth that appeared in the February 2004 issue of the Harvard Business Review. This book explains why our workplaces have many nasty people, why they survive and thrive and how they ruin other people’s life and career. The author argues that assholes—those who deliberately make co-workers feel bad about themselves and who focus their aggression on the less powerful—poison the work environment, decrease productivity, induce qualified employees to quit and therefore are detrimental to businesses, regardless of their individual effectiveness. Sutton goes on to explain how to build a civilized workplace and surviving one that is not.
The book contains an introduction, seven chapters, additional reading, acknowledgments and an index. In the introduction, the author explains how he stumbled on the ‘No asshole rule’ and how it got published in HBR and how it became a book.
The first chapter titled What Workplace Assholes Do and Why You Know So Many how to identify the assholes, their common characteristics, and why there are so many. The author has a two-question test for identifying assholes. First: After talking to the alleged person, does the target feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized, or belittled by the person? In particular, does the target feel worse about him or her? Second: Does the alleged person aim his or her venom at people who are less powerful rather than at those who are more powerful? If the answer to these two questions is ‘Yes’, then you are dealing with an asshole. The chapter also lists 12 common everyday actions that assholes use.
Chapter 2 (The Damage Done: Why Every Workplace Needs the Rule) explain why every organization needs a no asshole rule. The mean-spirited people do massive damage to victims and bystanders that affect the morale of employees and performance of the organization. It also explains how to calculate the total cost of assholes (TCA) to your organization.
The third chapter (How to Implement the Rule, Enforce It, and Keep It Alive) tells how to implement the ‘no asshole rule’, enforce it and keep it alive. The author points out that many organizations start of the implementation with great enthusiasm and then forgets about after a few months. He insists the importance of the continuing implementation of the rule to keep the workplace civilized and decent. The author explains how to incorporate the rule into the hiring and firing policy, how to apply the rule to your customers and clients, teaching people to fight, etc. The chapter also contains 10 steps for enforcing the no asshole rule.
Chapter 4—How to Stop Your “Inner Jerk” from Getting Out—explain how to keep the asshole in you from rearing its ugly head. This chapter contains tips and techniques how to avoid asshole poisoning and also a self-assessment check list. The fifth chapter titled When Assholes Reign: Tips for Surviving Nasty People and Workplaces contains various techniques and methods to deal with nasty people and keep your self esteem and confidence intact.
Chapter 6 (The Virtues of Assholes) discusses the advantages of being a nasty streak in a leader. Using Steve Jobs as an example, the author explain the advantages of being nasty. It also gives a five point lesson for becoming an effective asshole. But the author cautions about the dangers involved in using these techniques—so use them carefully. The last chapter—The No Asshole Rule as a Way of Life—summarizes what has been said in this book. It stresses the importance of how it is important to make the no asshole rule a way of life. If you don’t fight the nasty people, but keep suffering in silence it not only will make your life hell but also encourage the oppressor. So the ‘no asshole rule’ is something that should be practiced throughout your life. The additional reading section gives the author’s favorite books and articles for those who want to learn more about nasty people, they damage they do, and how to stop them.
I recommend this book to all as everybody will have to have to deal with nasty people and it is very important how to deal with them. This 200 page long little book will help both organizations and people to deal with difficult people and prevent them from making your life miserable.
Book Details:
- Editor: Robert I. Sutton PhD
- Publisher: Warner Business Books
- Year: 2007
- ISBN: 0446526568
- Cover & Page Count: Hardcover, 210 Pages
You can order online at Amazon.