A Very Nice Story

A professor sent me this lovely email yesterday:

Hello,

I recently read your
book “The No Asshole Rule” and it literally changed my life.  The short story is
that the few jerks in my workplace were pretty much sucking the life out of me. 
I felt so validated when I read your book.  Further, I realized that these
tenured faculty were not going anywhere, and I couldn’t change them.  So your
book prompted me into action.  I started a job search and have found a new job
in a much more collegial environment with a huge pay raise. 

I’m sure your book
has had this kind of direct impact on the lives of many others.  How I wish my
life’s work could have such a positive effect on other’s
lives!

Thank you for sharing
the message.

I think it is just a wonderful story. It made my day.  I still get many emails each week about The No Asshole Rule. This one just might be my favorite ever. I love it because it has such a happy ending and it shows that, for people who are trapped in asshole infested place, moving to a better place is often the best option if it is at all possible — as I emphasize on my tip list.

I would also like to thank this professor for taking the time to send me such a nice note. When I asked her if I could post it (with just her name removed), her reply was: "Yes, please feel free to share it in any way that you
want.   If it can help even one person, I would feel gratified."

Comments

2 responses to “A Very Nice Story”

  1. dblwyo Avatar

    Bob – a warming story indeed. You must have been glad to read it. Thanks for sharing. On a broader scale Tim Walker over at Hoover’s Business has a nice post on “results-oriented-work” who’s central theme is treat people like responsible adults. An argument which you may recall we x-riffed on with my side being couched in terms of improving strategic enterprise performance by increasing the % of effort that went into productive effort.
    Tim’s post is here:
    http://tinyurl.com/2ztsyd
    Also recommended highly as are the immediately two preceding posts which touch on the same thread.

  2. Lilly Evans Avatar
    Lilly Evans

    As I have just finished a short project that turned our well but was plagued by two major arseholes, this post gave me a great idea – my colleague and I as co-organisers will by way of our debrief for them buy your book and send it!
    They can make what they like of it. I will report back if I ever hear from either of them.
    Incidentally, I have no idea if that is significant but these are two guys and we are two women!

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