This September, I will be publishing a new book called Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to be the best… and learn from the worst, which I will introduce here in some detail here very soon (It was just posted on Amazon and can be pre-ordered; but I am going to wait a few days before writing about in part because they have a few things to fix on the page with both the image and the text). I also have a paperback version of The No Asshole Rule that will be published at the same time, which includes a new chapter, an Epilogue, called "On Being that Asshole Guy." The paperback isn't even available for pre-order yet. And I will talk more about the new chapter as we get closer to launch and it is available to order. But I can say that I had a huge amount of fun writing the new chapter and got into it so much that neither I nor my editor could quite believe it.
When I began the chapter, our agreement was that it run a short 3000 words. Yet once I started digging through the highlights and thinking of all I had learned from being the asshole guy, I realized that there was no way that 3000 words was enough and my editor agreed when he saw the first draft. So the new chapter will be about 7500 words — I think the first draft was in the 10,000 word range. I started by re-reading the emails people sent me — I dug up about 3000. I was simply astounded by the range, quantity, and especially the quality. I went back and re-read all the pertinent blog posts here, and more generally used it as an opportunity to think about what I learned from one of the weirdest and most enlightening experiences of my professional life.
One of the many odd things that struck me as I reflected on the experience was that I had written a book that many people claimed was remarkably useful, even though they hadn't read it. As an author, I confess that this insight still disturbs me both because I worked so hard on every sentence in the book and, well, I want people to spend the money to buy my book. Here is what I said about this insight in the new chapter (note that a word here and there might be different in the final version):
I
believe the title struck such a nerve is because, for most people, the A-word
captures the emotional and tangible elements of working with, managing, and
being these destructive characters so well — indeed, people who haven’t read a
page make remarkably accurate guesses about the contents. This is
disconcerting because, after all, I devoted a big hunk of my life to
researching, writing, and editing these words. Mark Twain defined a
“classic” as “a book which people praise and don't read.” The No Asshole
Rule isn’t a classic, but takes Twain’s point further by being a book that
people can understand pretty well without reading. There are other
reasons the book is useful to those who don’t read it. An attorney explained
that although she had not read it yet, she displayed a copy prominently in her
office – and pointed to it when one of her colleagues started turning nasty.
An executive from a large internet company told me a similar story
recently. He claimed to have read it and liked it, but said it was most
useful as a protective device. People saw it on his desk, which reminded
them to be civil, and “When they do lose it, I hold it up in front of my face
like a shield – they get the message and turn it down immediately.”
I also know leaders who haven't read the book, but still use it to help enforce the rule. The leaders of several professional
services firms discussed the book with me and explained they use the rule to
help set their partners’ salaries – especially to justify paying less to top
earners who are all-star assholes. At one firm, the lead partner waved the book
around as he announced the rule would be used in compensation decisions. A
couple years later, he told me it was working so well that he really ought to
read it! Copies of the book have also been used as symbolic weapons
against asshole bosses. In 2008, I gave a talk on the Stanford campus to
several hundred leaders of nonprofit organizations. Afterwards, a
vice-president from one non-profit pulled me aside and told me how they finally
got their abusive CEO sacked. The senior team (sans CEO) met with the
board of directors, gave them each a copy of the book, and all threatened to
resign if the CEO was not removed immediately. The board voted to fire
the CEO later that day.
I still think this is pretty weird, but I have accepted it as just one more twist in The No Asshole Rule story. If you have any other ideas or stories about how the book can be used to good — or I suppose bad — effect even by people who don't read or buy it, I would be most curious to hear.
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