I recently finished reading Bob Sutton’s great book The No Asshole Rule.. Even with a great corporate culture like my employer’s, sometimes a few assholes sneak in here and there — I found the book to be an interesting guide on how to deal with them..
A few highlights….
First, the Top Ten Steps to enforce the No Asshole Rule:
- Say the rule, write it down, and act on it
- Assholes will hire other assholes
- Get rid of assholes fast
- Treat certified assholes as incompetent employees
- Power breeds nastiness
- Embrace the power – performance paradox
- Manage moments – not just practices, policies, and systems
- Model and teach constructive confrontation
- Adopt the one asshole rule
- The bottom line: link big policies to small decencies
A quote from the book referencing Leonardo da Vinci, which I’ve used before in some discussions:
It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end
Bob’s conclusion to the book is my favorite part:
This book isn’t simply meant to be an objective summary of theory and researcha bout the ways that assholes undermine organizational effectiveness. I wrote it because my life and the lives of the people I care about are too short and too precious to spend our days surrounded by jerks….”
Amen!