The No Asshole Rule

Hey, do not blame me for the harsh, rude language.  I was not the one who used it as a title of a book.  That said, how am I going to review the book without using the word.

Bob Sutton recently released his new book, No Asshole Rule: Building A Civilized Workplace And Surviving One That Isn't.  Robert Sutton is Professor of Management Science and Engineering in the Stanford Engineering School, where he is Co-Director of the Center for Work, Technology, an active member of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and a cofounder of the new Hasso Planter Institute of Design, a multi-disciplinary program at Stanford that teaches and spreads "design thinking."

Very little attention is devoted to a  problem that plagues every workplace: Assholes.  As I recently pointed out in one of my own posts, these people (which I more politely call bullies and jerks, among other titles) not only exist in your immediate workplace such as law firms, but survive in your extended workplace, such as in dealing with clients, opposing counsel and judges.  Sutton just tags these people and the problem a little harder than I did.

Professor Sutton showed how assholes are not just an office nuisance, but a serious and costly threat to the workplace.  This would include the law firm and the legal system as a whole (pun intended).

The Book reveals the huge TCA (Total Cost of Assholes) in today's workplaces. He shows how to spot an asshole, and provides a "self-test" to determine whether you deserve to be branded as a "certified asshole." And he offers tips that you can use to keep your "inner jerk" from rearing its ugly head.  (Okay, I might need that later advice).

So despite the obvious shock value of the title, it should be on everybody's reading list.