Book Summary Preview : The No Asshole Rule

The Big Idea

Upon encountering mean-spirited persons, the first thing most people think is: “Wow, what an asshole!”

Just about everyone knows an asshole where they work – people who are terrible to deal with, with whom interaction is tedious at best and excruciating at worst. Most of us have to deal with these assholes in our workplaces at one time or another, or are having to try to manage them at present.

The No Asshole Rule shows how these destructive characters damage their workmates and undermine organizational performance, and suggests creative ways and means to understand what makes them tick and deal with them – or get rid of them.

Why You Need this Book 

The No Asshole Rule shows you how to keep tough-to-deal-with people out of your workplace, how to reform those you are stuck with, how to expel those who can’t or won’t change their ways, and how to limit the damage that these people can cause.

Author Robert Sutton confronts this topic simply and directly, and provides extensive and easy-to-use strategies into how these kinds of negative characters can be understood, identified and dealt with, or eliminated, for good. He delves into the theories concerning assholes and comes up with some surprising revelations and discoveries – not the least among them that many among us may be assholes in our own ways – and how to deal with these as well in order to improve the organizations we work for.

What Workplace Assholes Do and Why You Know So Many
Who deserves to be branded as an asshole?

It is first important to be able to identify assholes properly. How do we know we’re not distinguishing between people we simply dislike and those who really deserve the label? We need to be able to distinguish between those who are simply having a bad day from those who are persistently or consistently nasty and destructive.

Here are two quick tests:

• Test One: After talking to the alleged asshole, does the “target” feel oppressed, humiliated, belittled or de-energized by the person? Does the “target”, as a result, feel worse about him- or herself?

• Test Two: Does the alleged asshole aim his or her venom at people who are less powerful rather than at those who are more powerful?

It’s obvious that assholes operate differently – some do their damage through open rage and arrogance, while others have enough skill and emotional control to act as assholes quietly and privately and are far less obvious.

To be more specific, here are twelve common everyday actions that assholes use to do their dirty work and which illustrate the range of behavior that assholes can use.

1. Personal insults
2. Invading one’s “physical territory”
3. Uninvited physical contact
4. Verbal and nonverbal threats and intimidation
5. “Sarcastic jokes” and “teasing” used as insult delivery systems
6. Withering email flames
7. Status slaps designed to humiliate victims
8. Public shaming or “status degradation” rituals
9. Rude interruptions
10. Two-faced attacks
11. Dirty looks
12. Treating people like they’re invisible

There are also such things as temporary and certified assholes. The former are only considered assholes because of one or two events; the latter display persistent patterns and have histories of episodes where they put people down.

It’s important to point out that we mustn’t choose to replace assholes with wimps and polite clones – their opposites – either! In many cases these people can actually damage a company badly, since they don’t often speak up even when under extreme duress and this could serve to drive problems underground, where they fester.

A certain amount of well-managed conflict is a necessity in order for a company to run smoothly. People need to be open to one another, but not to the extent that some become assholes.

Lastly, here is a fundamental lesson that runs through this book: the difference between how a person treats the powerless versus the powerful (recall that the less powerful are routinely targeted by assholes) is an excellent measure of human character.

The Damage Done:  Why Every Workplace Needs the No-Asshole Rule
The effects of assholes are so devastating because they sap people of their energy and self-esteem mostly through the accumulated effects of small, demeaning acts, not so much through large dramatic episodes.

Tiny indignities take their toll and add up as we go along our workdays. They have cumulative effects on our mental health and our commitments to our bosses, peers and the organizations we work for.

Research shows that negative interactions have a fivefold stronger effect on mood than positive interactions, showing that nasty people pack a larger punch than their more civilized counterparts! In addition, assholes also damage more than just their intended targets. Coworkers, family members or friends who watch or even just hear about these ugly incidents, may also be damaged as well.

 

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