What Did You Read On Vacation?

By: Rick Stanton, President/Creative Director

My wife and I escaped to Kauai for a little R&R a couple of weeks ago. And as is typical, we both brought along books we hadn’t had time to get to yet.
(Side note: We like books. We like holding books. Books have souls. Kindles do not.)

But while waiting to board the plane, I wandered into a bookstore, and low and behold, I found the book I would read first … The No Asshole Rule, subtitled Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One that Isn’t. The author is the very respected Robert Sutton, who also wrote Good Boss, Bad Boss.

I have to say, seeing the word asshole on a book cover is a first. But after embracing the direct approach for 35 years in business, this really appealed to my (as long as we are being straightforward here) no bullshit personality.

The essence of the book is meaningful. Mr. Sutton points out the emotional and fiscal damage that is done to people and businesses that tolerate or, even in some cases, encourage assholes. Steve Jobs is well documented. If you run a business or work in a business where this may be the case, I suggest not only reading the book but perhaps buying some extra copies to leave in strategically located areas for “certain people“ to “discover.” Ironically, the book was to be a white paper for the Harvard Review. But when Mr. Sutton submitted the article, title and all, the editor of the HR suggested he change the title and indicated that he would never run something that resorted to that type of language.

So Sutton moved on. Over time he received so much positive response from others, and stories too, that he turned the white paper into what would become a New York Times Best Seller. Soon after, the aforementioned editor called him and asked if he could run the shorter version, title intact. I think he is what is commonly known as a hypocrite. Or maybe even an asshole.

Finally, one of my big takeaways from the book is that everyone, once in a while, is an asshole. It’s your ability to understand your actions and do the right thing after being an asshole that determines if you are an occasional or a chronic asshole. And sometimes it’s even OK to be an occasional practitioner because some assholes have it coming.