The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't

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The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't is a book by Robert Sutton. Description: "How many times have you said that about someone at work? You're not alone! In this groundbreaking book, Stanford University professor Robert I. Sutton builds on his acclaimed Harvard Business Review article to show you the best ways to deal with assholes."

Robert Sutton is best-selling officer and Professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford and a Professor of Organizational Behavior, by courtesy, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Sutton studies innovation, leaders and bosses, evidence-based management, the links between knowledge and organizational action, and workplace civility. His seven management books include bestsellers The No A**hole Rule, Good Boss, Bad Boss, and (with Huggy Rao) Scaling Up Excellence. His latest book is The A**hole Survival Guide:How to Deal With People Who Treat You Like Dirt.


Summary

  • Self-awareness and enforcement: Recognizing toxic behaviors, especially in leadership, and proactively enforcing the No Asshole Rule can prevent power imbalances and toxic cultures, with policies like the One Asshole Rule sometimes helping to expose bad behavior.
  • The Asshole Tax: Toxic individuals cost organizations significantly, with an estimated $160,000 per year due to turnover, absenteeism, lost productivity, and reduced psychological safety.
  • Management costs: Toxic employees waste time and resources, requiring management to deal with conflict, reorganization, and legal issues, while also harming organizational performance, creativity, and cooperation.
  • Strategies for handling assholes: Organizations should train employees in constructive confrontation, enforce a strict No Asshole Rule, and consider purging toxic employees to minimize harm and foster a healthier environment.
  • Impact on victims: Victims of toxic behavior suffer from stress, absenteeism, and career damage, and bystanders may be less likely to cooperate with or support toxic individuals, undermining the organization’s culture.


Expanded Notes

  • 124 - Self Test for certified assholes - list of 24 bad behaviors.
  • 120 - jerk-o-meter - an app/device that detects if you are an asshole from your speech, from Media Lab.
  • 118 - Asshole - know thyself. To minimize the asshole in yourself,
  • Enforcement summary- state the rule, be proactive, no assholes especially in hiring positions as assholes will breed like rabbits, treat certified assholes as incompetent employees; power breeds nastiness - careful when giving power; power-performance paradox - minimize power differences; teach constructive confrontation; big vision reflected in day to day action; adopt One Asshole Rule.
  • 88 - link big policy and small decisions - treat the person right in front o f you, right now, in the right way
  • 84 - One Asshole Rule - reverse role model - one flagrant asshole may be positive in an organization, if their wrongdoing stands out and improves behavior of others. Controversial it seems.
  • 80 - teach people how to fight - Intel does training in “constructive confrontation,”
  • 69 - apply the rule to customers and clients as well.
  • 67 - asshole purge in a company is recommended for certified assholes
  • 66 - 'homosocial reproduction' - bring in the clones. An asshole in a hiring position - implication is that that assholes will breed like rabbits
  • p60 -Men's Warehouse - has a very detailed conduct policy enforcing the No Asshole Rule.
  • TCA - p25 - Total Cost of Assholes - The organizational impact, in terms of both retention and recruitment, lost revenue, time lost dealing with fallout, lost clients, [and] excess organizational calories being ex­pended on the wrong things, reduced creativity or focus, etc.
    • Asshole taxes - you have to pay 'war pay' for others to work with the asshole
    • Damage to Victims and Witnesses
  • Estimated total cost of asshole for one year $160,000
  • Distraction from tasks—more effort devoted to avoid­ing nasty encounters, coping with them, and avoiding blame; less devoted to the task itself
  • Reduced “psychological safety” and associated cli­mate of fear undermines employee suggestions, risk-taking, learning from own failures, learning from others' failures, and forthright discussion—honesty, rather than being the best policy, results in negative consequences instead
  • Loss of motivation and energy at work

The bad news is that these oppressors cost organizations far more than their leaders and investors usually realize.

  • Stress-induced psychological and physical illness
  • Possible impaired mental ability
  • Prolonged bullying turns victims into assholes
  • Absenteeism
  • Turnover in response to abusive supervision and peers—plus more time spent while at work looking for new work

Woes of Certified Assholes The good news is that if you devote yourself and your or­ganization to establishing and enforcing the no asshole rule, you can save a lot of money and save your people, their friends and families, and yourself a lot of heartache.

  • Victims and witnesses hesitate to help, cooperate with them, or give them bad news
  • Retaliation from victims and witnesses
  • Failure to reach potential in the organization
  • Humiliation when “outed”
  • Job loss
  • Long-term career damage


Wicked Consequences for Management

  • Time spent appeasing, calming, counseling, or disci­plining assholes
  • Time spent “cooling out” employees who are victim­ized
  • Time spent “cooling out” victimized customers, con­tract employees, suppliers, and other key outsiders
  • Time spent reorganizing departments and teams so that assholes do less damage
  • Time spent interviewing, recruiting, and training re­placements for departed assholes and their victims
  • Management burnout, leading to decreased commit­ment and increased distress
  • Legal and HR Management Costs
  • Anger management and other training to reform ass­holes
  • Legal costs for inside and outside counsel
  • Settlement fees and successful litigation by victims
  • Settlement fees and successful litigation by alleged assholes (especially wrongful-termination claims)
  • Compensation for internal and external consultants, executive coaches, and therapists
  • Health-insurance costs

When Assholes Reign: Negative Effects on Organizations

  • Impaired improvement in established systems
  • Reduced innovation and creativity
  • Reduced cooperation and cohesion
  • Reduced “discretionary” effort
  • Dysfunctional internal cooperation

Links

  • The No Asshole Rule on Wikipedia [[1]]
  • Excerpt [[2]]
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