The No Asshole Rule
Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
Robert I. Sutton
The definitive guide to working with -- and surviving -- bullies, creeps, jerks, tyrants, tormentors, despots, backstabbers, egomaniacs, and all the other assholes who do their best to destroy you at work.
What an asshole!
The book argues that when people leave others feeling demeaned, de-energized, disrespected, that it's actually bad for business. When people feel that way, they perform less well, their health is negatively affected, and they are not willing to go the extra mile.
"
For better or worse, in 2007 I published a book called The No-A**hole Rule, which I thought was going to be my worst-selling book and it's turned out to be my best-selling book.
— Episode: Innovation 2.0: Shortcuts and Speed Bump...
Episode: Innovation 2.0: Shortcuts and Speed Bumps
The book argues that when people leave others feeling demeaned, de-energized, disrespected, that it's actually bad for business. When people feel that way, they perform less well, their health is negatively affected, and they are not willing to go the extra mile.
"
For better or worse, in 2007 I published a book called The No-A**hole Rule, which I thought was going to be my worst-selling book and it's turned out to be my best-selling book.
And the argument that that book makes that when people leave others feeling demeaned, de-energized, disrespected, that it's actually bad for business.
The speaker expressed his fondness for this book and implemented its principles in his workplace by establishing a 'no asshole' rule to foster a positive and productive environment, thus reducing loneliness among his employees.
"
So there's a book by a stand for a professor called the No asshole rule.
— Episode: Moment 123: 11 Extremely Damaging Things...
Episode: Moment 123: 11 Extremely Damaging Things You NEED...
The speaker expressed his fondness for this book and implemented its principles in his workplace by establishing a 'no asshole' rule to foster a positive and productive environment, thus reducing loneliness among his employees.
"
So there's a book by a stand for a professor called the No asshole rule.
Love that book and the No asshole rule is to see, yo starts with me.
Jordan Harbinger repeatedly pointed listeners to the book as a useful guide for handling manipulative or difficult supervisors and coworkers. He noted that the author, a Stanford professor, originally aimed to build a civil workplace but the work evolved into a practical survival guide for dealing with "brilliant jerks" and toxic employees. Across episodes the show consistently recommended it as a well‑written, highly relevant resource for anyone forced to work with unpleasant colleagues.
Highly Recommended
Episode: 689: Her Beau is Faux, But She Doesn't Know | Feed...
It was mentioned in relation to dealing with a difficult boss, and the episode discussed how to handle working with someone who is manipulative and incompetent.
"
I recommend checking out episode three seventy five with Bob Sutton he's a business school professor and he has written a very well written book as well called the No Asshole rule if memory serves and one of the things we talked about in that episode is what to do if you're forced to work with an a hole so that's going to be very relevant and helpful to you as well
Episode: 583: Mentor-Mentee Fantasy Can Only End In Misery...
It was discussed as a good resource for dealing with difficult people in the workplace, specifically on the topic of how to deal with a brilliant jerk, a difficult person who is also a high performer.
"
we also did an episode about a holes in the workplace, it's episode three fifty seven with Bob Sutton he wrote a book called the no as whole rule and it's all about dealing with difficult people at work really really good the guy is speaking of master class
Episode: 376: How to Fire Someone You Care About | Feedback...
It was mentioned in relation to dealing with difficult people in the workplace, even outside of a traditional office environment, as the book explores strategies for handling such individuals.
"
he wrote a book called The No Asshole Rule and it's about how to deal with people in the office who are not always super nice.
Episode: 375: Bob Sutton | The A-hole Survival Guide
It was initially about building an asshole-free work culture, but the author found that most people wanted advice on how to deal with jerks they worked with.
"
He's got another book, The Asshole Survival Guide and you cannot sensing a theme here. How to deal with people who treat you like dirt?
your other book the no-asshole rule took the world by storm.
I thought the first book was about how to build a relatively asshole free work culture so I talked about things like how to select employees how to socialize them how to give them feedback, put a fire or things like that
I'm somebody who even in the no asshole world i talked about Steve Jobs being an asshole and stuff like that
Episode: 376: How to Fire Someone You Care About | Feedback...
It was mentioned as a book about dealing with difficult people in the workplace, which is still relevant despite the shift away from traditional office settings.
"
he wrote a book called The No Asshole Rule and it's about how to deal with people in the office who are not always super nice.
Episode: 375: Bob Sutton | The A-hole Survival Guide
It was initially about creating an asshole-free work environment, but it became a guide for dealing with difficult people due to overwhelming responses from readers.
"
He's got another book, The Asshole Survivor Guide and you cannot sensing a theme here.
He's also a professor of management science and engineering and a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford.
So he's not just a nice guy, he's a smart nice guy and today we'll discover why assholes actually do not finish first.
We'll explore what to do if you're forced to work with somebody who treats you poorly and will uncover how to tell if maybe the A-hole in the office is actually you.
Your other book the no-asshole rule took the world by storm.
Episode: 689: Her Beau is Faux, But She Doesn't Know | Feed...
It was mentioned as a well-written book about what to do when forced to work with someone difficult, relating to dealing with a challenging boss in the workplace.
"
I recommend checking out episode three seventy five with Bob Sutton he's a business school professor and he has written a very well written book as well called the No Asshole rule if memory serves and one of the things we talked about in that episode is what to do if you're forced to work with an a hole so that's going to be very relevant and helpful to you as well
Episode: 583: Mentor-Mentee Fantasy Can Only End In Misery...
It was discussed as a resource for dealing with difficult people at work, likely as a result of the brilliant jerk question.
"
we also did an episode about a holes in the workplace, it's episode three fifty seven with Bob Sutton, he wrote a book called the no as whole rule and it's all about dealing with difficult people at work really really good
Episode: 376: How to Fire Someone You Care About | Feedback...
It was mentioned in relation to dealing with difficult people in the workplace, even though the context had shifted to remote work due to COVID.
"
he wrote a book called The No Asshole Rule and it's about how to deal with people in the office who are not always super nice.
Episode: 375: Bob Sutton | The A-hole Survival Guide
It was initially written about building a work culture without jerks, but the response was such that it turned into a book about dealing with them in the workplace.
"
He's got another book, The Asshole Survival Guide and you cannot sensing a theme here.
your other book the no-asshole rule took the world by storm.
I thought the first book was about how to build a relatively asshole free work culture so I talked about things like how to select employees how to socialize them how to give them feedback, put a fire or things like that
but the response to the book was that everywhere I went both in person and especially over email people would tell me their stories about the assholes that they dealt with
even in the no asshole world i talked about Steve Jobs being an asshole and stuff like that
Note: The book recommendations on this page are discovered automatically from podcast transcripts, and may be incorrect or incomplete.