A$$Hole is a new book by Martin Kihn. He was nominated for an Emmy for his work on MTV’s Pop-Up Video and wrote the most cynical, painfully accurate, and funny book I’ve ever seen on management consulting, House of Lies. When I first heard about A$$hole, I was disgusted as I thought that it clashed with everything that I had tried to accomplish in The No Asshole Rule. But after I read a pre-publication version of the book, I liked it so much that offered to write an endorsement. Kihn tells his story about an experiment that he tried in his life, to go from a doormat to an asshole. In doing so, although this is an autobiographical tale, he does a remarkably effective — and often very funny — job of providing step-by-step instructions for anyone who wants to be an effective asshole. His lessons are reminiscent of Chapter Six of The No Asshole Rule and of the manifesto that I wrote for ChangeThis on The Upside of Assholes. But Martin dives into the problem much more deeply and the blend of his personal story and his skill as a comedy writer make the book a fun romp. For me, the bad news about the book (although it is good news for aspiring assholes) is that he does such an effective job of showing how you too can be an effective workplace asshole. The good news, however, is that he also shows the drawbacks and downsides of assholes for organizations, their clients, co-workers who are trapped with these creeps, and yes, for workplace assholes themselves too.
I recommend it highly. The book comes out in April, but Amazon usually ships earlier than that. Kihn has started a blog about the book too — which already has quite a bit of material and is just as funny as the book.
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