My attempt to stave off email bankruptcy is not only going pretty well — I am down to 135 emails to deal with — I just found a gem from a couple months back that forgot to write about here. A reader who asked to described as "Carolyn in Austin, Texas" wrote me nice note about The No Asshole Rule and especially emphasized that she liked my assertion in Chapter 1 that "The difference between how a person treats the powerless versus the powerful is as good a measure of human character as I know. "
Carolyn suggested a second test that I just love. In fact, let's call it Carolyn's Rule:
You can determine someone’s character by how quickly they realize they’ve made a mistake and how readily they admit it.
Not bad, huh? It makes me think of one colleague I've know from nearly 30 years who has never admitted a mistake — even in multiple cases where it is clear this person has made big mistakes, has damaged other people, and it would be best for all concerned. Indeed, as I implied over at HBR, Carolyn's Rule is also a good test of a boss's skill.