The No Asshole Rule

A very catchy title indeed. It persuaded me as well. The author even dedicates a long section in the epilogue to that fact. He just labels people who demean or belittle others, just ignore them, spread fear, claim success of the group for themselves, and blame their underlings for failure. In short: assholes. In a very repetitive way he writes about one topic: do not accept assholes in your organization even if they are brilliant in other fields. Just do not! Since they poison all their co-workers. Those affected most likely turn onto jerks as well since this bad behavior apparently pays off. You end up with an unpleasant workspace. Moreover, the cost to compensate for the high turn-over will be considerable. He cites a company, that discounted this cost from the bonus of a high-performing sales manager who behaved like an asshole. Interesting!
Maybe the most valuable part of the book is how to assess yourself, and how to keep your inner-jerk from coming out.
Naturally, the essay wouldn’t be complete without addressing the fact that assholes can be achievers. Nevertheless, most of the prominent managers mentioned in the book were fired later since the can only have a temporal effect. The most notable exception is Steve Jobs – depicted as one of the biggest assholes around. But how many Steve Jobs’ are there on the surface of the planet? It is said that Jobs believes in his people 100% until they do not meet his expectations …