Work Matters

Tag: No Asshole Rule

  • Mass Exodus at Gorilla Coffee: Employees flee from “perpetually malicious, hostile, and demeaning work environment”

    One of the last posts I wrote before taking a couple weeks off warned that, since the economy seems to be finally coming back and job opportunities are on the rise,it just might be the last chance for many incompetent and nasty bosses and organizations to finally start treating their people right — otherwise employees may start running for the exits.

    Well, although I am not sure the economic upturn played a role, the story of Gorilla Coffee in New York City provides a cautionary tale for every asshole boss.  The New York Times "Diner's Journal" reported on April 11th that nearly all the employees resigned, that the coffee shop "isn't going to open anytime soon," and the allegedly abused employees who quit are seeking jobs elsewhere.  The story in The Times (it looks like a blog post) reveals staggering differences between the employee's and owner's perspective:  The owners said things like:

    “It’s a complete surprise." 

    And they portrayed Gorilla as a workplace that "is mostly happy if
    often busy,"     but:

    When one employee started expressing her dissatisfaction,
    “it got out of hand.”

    In contrast, the long letter (see the story) from employees explaining why the mass resignation occurred tells a much different tale:

    The issues brought up with the owners of Gorilla Coffee yesterday are
    issues that they have been aware of for some time. These issues which
    have repeatedly been brushed aside and ignored have created a
    perpetually malicious, hostile, and demeaning work environment that was
    not only unhealthy, but also, as our actions have clearly shown,
    unworkable.

    The Times also reported that employees felt especially abused by:

    Carol McLaughlin, one of
    the two owners, and demanded that she withdraw from daily operations at
    the coffee bar.

    And that:

    When both owners refused, seven baristas quit. (Another barista
    resigned, but the owners say that person wasn’t an employee.)

    Of course, I can't know all the facts here because the stories are so different and the 87 comments from Times readers further muddy the picture — although there is a pretty strong hint that the asshole poisoning also was evident in how employees treated customers.  And if you look at research on power dynamics, odds are that those in power — the owners — were oblivious and insensitive to their underlings. 

    Regardless, this story, along with my earlier post, suggests that it is a good time for all bosses to ask themselves what their followers really think of them — a lot of leaders out there are living in a fool's paradise.  As this story shows, the costs of being seen by your people as an asshole (or simply incompetent, I would add) can be mighty high regardless of what YOU believe about yourself as a boss.  Remember, if you are the boss, the test of the quality of your leadership is what your followers think of you, NOT what you think of yourself.

    This story also reminds me of a saying by Jim Goodnight , CEO and co-founder of SAS software, which is currently #1 on Fortune's best place to work rankings.  He often says something like, " When my people go home at night, I just hope that they come back in the morning, otherwise I am out of business."   The Gorilla Coffee case reveals the truth of Goodnight's wise words. 

    P.S. Thanks to Johanna for sending this story my way. 

  • The Meanest Bartender in San Francisco

    At this point, we certainly don't need any additional evidence that people get VERY worked-up about assholes, but I can't resist this fantastic post on SF Gate (the San Francisco Chronicle website) by Harmon Leon on "Who are the meanest bartenders in San Francisco?"  The best part is the comments, a whopping 468 for a rather sleepy part of blogging universe.  This post is brilliant and very funny.  For example, consider this excerpt:

    The award for the all time meanest bartenders in San Francisco has got
    to go to the crew at the     Zeitgeist.
    Besides scowling things like, "F-ing yuppies," if someone with a shirt
    with buttons orders a drink, there is always an unpleasant sort of
    life-has-kicked-them-in-the-nuts, unhealthy tweaker vibe when you when
    you try to order a drink.

    One time the bartender threw my change at me because I left her 4
    quarters as a tip for a beer. (That still equals a dollar, right?)
    Serious issues. Extra points for the bouncer always doing my favorite
    non-ironic, closing time speech: "Last call! Drink `em up! You don't
    have to go home BUT YOU CAN'T STAY HERE    !"

    I love this, it reminds of a now long dead but famous San Francisco waiter Edsel Ford Fong who was the star attraction at rather mediocre Chinese restaurant.  You went there for his brilliant and funny insults.. I once asked him for a fork, which he turned into a public shaming ritual as he made me walk and get it myself while he taunted me for my disrespect of him, his restaurant, and all Chinese people on the planet.  He is immortalized  at the San Francisco Giants lovely ballpark, where there is a Chinese restaurant named Edsel Ford Fong.

    Under the right conditions, a professional asshole can be a lot of fun. 

  • If Your Boss is an Asshole, Don’t Give Him or Her the Book

    One of the strange things about The No Asshole Rule that took me at least a year after publication to understand is that just owning, displaying, and — in particular — giving someone the book as a present (or even suggesting they read it) can have strong effects.  And they are not all good. On the positive side, a senior executive at a large professional service firm told me that at a meeting of the firm's partners, the CEO waved around a copy of the book and told them that whether or not they followed the rule would be factored into compensation decisions.  Most of them had not read the book, and didn't read it after that, but just the act of waiving around the book and suggesting something like "and if you are a chronic asshole, we are going to push the delete button pictured on the cover" was enough to get their attention and, I am told, did help a few of the most recalcitrant jerks tone down their nastiness. 

    A number of people have also explained to me that the book is a useful "defensive tool" or "protective device." An
    attorney reported that although she had not read it yet, she bought a copy and
    displayed it prominently in her office – and pointed to it when one of her
    colleagues started turning nasty.  A senior executive from a large
    technology company told me a similar story just a few weeks ago    .  He did
    claim to have liked and read the book, but argued it was even more 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 usually get the message and turn down venom immediately.     

    But there are also dangers to simply owning the book, as people are
    sometimes offended by it — especially when they are concerned that they are the
    asshole in question.  In the fast few
    years, several people have told me that when they brought the book to work,
    they were ordered to hide it, bring it home, and never bring it to work again
    because the title was in such bad taste.  An office assistant wrote me
    that her boss put a negative note in her personnel file because the book upset
    several coworkers.  This assistant added that the only person it really
    upset was her boss, because she was a certified asshole and she and everyone
    else knew it.  In a more troubling case, a woman berated me on the phone
    and over email because her sister was fired for bringing the book to work
    because her boss found the title offensive.  This cold-hearted act
    provided further evidence he was a bosshole, but that was little consolation as
    she needed the job.

    Unfortunately,
    I learned of a new example of the dangers of using the book (regardless of its
    actual contents) yesterday in a rather heartbreaking comment that “Regan” made
    in response to my question “What’s the worst advice you have ever received:”  

    The
    only management book I have ever bought was the "No Asshole Rule"
    because it was about time someone put it in writing. It was a great book, my
    whole department loved it – they advised me give it to my boss to read – he did
    not see the humour in it, and he must have seen himself clearly fit the
    definitions of "asshole" because I lost my job shortly after giving
    him the book. So, although I think The No Asshole Rule is the best management
    book ever written – I think the advice about giving it to your boss if he/she is
    a tyrant is pretty bad advice – didn't work out too well for me anyway…    ..

    I
    found it quite painful to read how much Regan liked my book and how much it
    ended-up hurting him — I didn't advise him to give to his boss, but I hope others can learn from this incident .  Although I hope
    you find the ideas in the book to be helpful, but I also hope that – especially
    if you are in a place where paranoia and mistrust run high and psychological
    safety is low – you will learn from these cautionary tales, and be careful
    where you bring the book and who you give it to as a "present." 

    A broader lesson is that – ironically – telling a person that he or she is an asshole can be an insulting thing to do, and can
    sometimes turn even a civilized person into an asshole. 
    And apparently, this is especially true if that
    person really is a certified asshole (and especially dangerous to you if he or she wields power over
    you).

  • The Best Asshole Buster Story I’ve Heard In a Long Time

    A reader named Kevin just wrote and told me a great story:

    A good friend of mine in college was at a busy nightclub, on
    the crowded dance floor, dancing with his girlfriend.  It was very crowded,
    to the point where you could barely dance and in close proximity to everyone
    around you.  He overheard a guy that was “hitting” on a girl.  He had
    been drinking and was pretty obnoxious.  He told the girl that he very
    much wanted to get” into her pants”.  Her response was “sorry buddy, there
    is already one asshole in these pants, and no room for another”.  The guy was
    immediately defused and left the dance floor with his tail between his legs,
    and no longer bothered anyone at the nightclub.  Thought you might get a
    chuckle from this brilliant comeback.

    Is it true? I don't know and don't care, it is the best asshole put-down story I've heard in a long time.  Another great story came from Tina a few years back on an funny moment in her MBA class — and that one is better documented than the tale above.

  • ARSE Passes 210,000 Completions: Have You Taken The Test Yet?

    The Asshole Rating Self-Exam (or ARSE) appears in The No Asshole Rule at the end of Chapter 4.  It actually isn't called that in the book, it is just described as "Self-Test: Are You a Certified Asshole?"  But Guy Kawasaki got a hold of it right after the book was published and the great people at Electric Pulp put in a format that works well on the web — and Guy came up with the ARSE acronym (His capacity for fun language never ceases to me amaze me).  So many people have taken the ARSE that several times a year, someone I never met will walk up to me and introduce themselves with a number ("Hi, I am Sandy, and I am a 1, I am really a very nice person" or …. "Hi, I am Phil and I am a 9, so I am a borderline certified  asshole.")

    The ARSE seems to be going strong. I just got an email from Emily at Electric Pulp who tells me that it has now passed 210,000 completions (213, 659, with an average score of 7.09 — indicating the average test taker is a borderline certified asshole or has sued it to identify one).  I still take it now and then for myself, and my score fluctuates between a 2 and 7, depending on my mood.  And I confess that when I am dealing with an asshole, I will take it on his or her "behalf."  I once completed it for a certain unnamed colleague, and I scored him a 17 on the test (indicating a "full-blown certified asshole.")  No wonder I feel sick whenever I have to deal with him. 

    P.S. Emily also reports that the ACHE — the Asshole Client from Hell Exam — is up to 12, 472 completions.

  • The Baboon Troop that Mellowed Out After the Alpha Males Died

    I got an email last night from a former student (thanks Hendrick!) who wanted to let me know that Stanford's Robert Sapolsky had done a WNYC radio show called "New Normal?" (listen here) where he described his 2004 article with Lisa Share on a troop of baboons — which became more peaceful (or at least less nasty) after the alpha males died.  It is amazing stuff, and more evidence that being a jerk and having power go hand in hand.  Here is a link to the original academic article (which I was able to download for free). It is short and quite accessible, and just astounding stuff:  Here is how I described it in The No Asshole Rule:

    Biologists Robert Sapolsky
    and Lisa Share have followed a troop of wild baboons in Kenya     for over 20 years, starting
    in 1978.  Sapolsky and Share called them
    “The Garbage Dump Troop” because they got much of their food from a garbage pit
    at a tourist lodge.  But not every baboon
    was allowed to eat from the pit in the early 1980s:  The aggressive, high status males in the
    troop refused to allow lower status males, or any females, to eat the garbage.
    Between 1983 and 1986, infected meat from the dump led to the deaths of 46% of
    the adult males in the troop. The biggest and meanest males died off.  As in other baboon troops studied, before
    they died, these top-ranking males routinely bit, bullied, and chased males of
    similar and lower status, and occasionally directed their aggression at
    females.

    But when the top ranking
    males died-off in the mid-1980s, aggression by the (new) top baboons dropped dramatically,
    with most aggression occurring between baboons of similar rank, and little of
    it directed toward lower-status males, and none at all directed at females.
    Troop members also spent a larger percentage of the time grooming, sat closer
    together than in the past, and hormone samples indicated that the lowest status
    males experienced less stress than underlings in other baboon troops. Most
    interestingly, these effects persisted at least through the late 1990’s, well
    after all the original “kinder” males had died-off.  Not only that, when adolescent males who grew
    up in other troops joined the “Garbage Dump Troop,” they too engaged in less
    aggressive behavior than in other baboon troops.  As Sapolsky put it “We don’t understand the
    mechanism of transmission… but the jerky new guys are obviously learning: We
    don’t do things like that around here.” 
    So, at least by baboon standards, the garbage dump troop developed and
    enforced what I would call a “no asshole rule.”

    I am not suggesting that you
    get rid of all the alpha males in your organization, as tempting as that may be at times.  The lesson from the baboons is
    that when the social distance between higher and lower status mammals in a
    group are reduced, and steps are taken to keep the distance smaller, higher
    status members are less likely to act like jerks.   Human leaders can use this lesson to avoid
    turning into mean, selfish, and insensitive jerks too. Despite all the
    trappings, some leaders do remain attuned to how people around them are really
    feeling, to what their employees really believe about how the
    organization is ran, and to what customers really think about their
    company’s products and services.  As “The
    Garbage Dump Troop” teaches us, the key thing these leaders do is to take
    potent, and constant, steps that dampen rather amplify the power differences
    between themselves and others (both inside and outside the company). 

    Any reactions? What do you think the implications for implementing the no asshole rule?

    P.S. I seem to have a bit of an obsession with power dynamics  in baboon troops, you may recall this post called Of Baboons and Bosses, on how lower status troop members glance at the alpha male every 20 or 30 seconds.

  • Latest Tips for Surviving Workplace Assholes

    I talk a lot here about the methods for enduring and triumphing against abusive bosses and co-workers.  Some of these tips come from your comments and e-mails, some from the No Asshole Rule, and some from academic research. I update this list every few months, so please keep your suggestions coming!   

    Before I get to the rest of the tips, one is in a class by itself:

    THE BIGGEST AND BEST LESSON: ESCAPE IF YOU POSSIBLY CAN. The best thing to do if you are stuck under thumb of an asshole (or a bunch of them) is to get out as fast as you can. You are at great risk of suffering personal damage and of turning into as asshole yourself. Acting like a jerk isn’t just something that a few twisted people are born with; it is a contagious disease. But escape isn’t always possible; as one woman wrote me, “I have to feed my family and pay my mortgage, and there aren’t a lot of jobs that pay well enough to do that around here.”

    Donkey_sign So here are my top tips for coping with workplace assholes that you can’t escape (at least for now):

     1. Start with polite confrontation. Some people really don’t mean to be assholes. They might be surprised if you gently let them know that they are leaving you feeling belittled and demeaned.  Other assholes are demeaning on purpose, but may stop if you stand-up to them in a civil, but, firm manner. An office worker wrote me that her boss was “a major asshole” (he was a former army major, who was infamous for his nastiness). She found that “the major” left her alone after she gave him “a hard stare” and told him his behavior was “absolutely unacceptable and I simply won’t tolerate it.” This is also pretty much what Ron Reagan (the late president’s son) told me on his radio show about how he dealt with assholes, as did a fashion model who described a constructive way to confront an asshole

    2. If a bully keeps spewing venom at you, limit your contact with the creep as much as possible.  Try to avoid any meetings you can with the jerk.  Do telephone meetings if possible. Keep conversations as short as possible. Be polite but don’t provide a lot of personal information during meetings of any kind, including email exchanges.  If the creep says or writes something nasty, try to avoid snapping back; it can fuel a vicious circle of asshole poisoning. Don’t sit down during meetings if you can avoid it. Recent research suggests that stand-up meetings are just as effective sit-down meetings, but are shorter; so try to meet places without chairs and avoid sitting down during meetings with assholes whenever possible – it limits your exposure to their abuse.  

    3. Find ways to enjoy “small wins” over assholes.  If you can’t reform or expel the bully, find small ways to gain control and to fight back -– it will make you feel powerful and just might convince the bully to leave you and others alone. Exhibit one here is the radio producer who told me that she felt oppressed because her boss was constantly stealing her food –- right off her desk. So she made some candy out of EX-Lax, the chocolate flavored laxative, and left it on her desk. As usual, he ate them without permission. When she told this thief what was in the candy, “he was not happy.” 

    4. Practice indifference and emotional detachment– learn how not to let an asshole touch your soul.  Management gurus and executives are constantly ranting about the importance of commitment, passion, and giving all you have to a job. That is good advice when your bosses and peers treat you with dignity. But if you work with people who treat you like dirt, they have not earned your passion and commitment. Practice going through the motions without really caring. Don’t let their vicious words and deeds touch your soul: Learn to be comfortably numb until the day comes when you find a workplace that deserves your passion and full commitment.

    Thedictator 5. Keep an asshole diary — carefully document what the jerk does and when it happens. Carefully document what the jerk does and when it happens. A government employee wrote me a detailed email about how she used a diary to get rid of a nasty, racist co-worker ‘I documented the many harmful things she did with dates and times…..basically I kept an "Asshole Journal."  I encouraged her other victims to do so too and these written and signed statements were presented to our supervisor. Our supervisors knew this worker was an asshole but didn't really seem to be doing anything to stop her harmful behaviors until they received these statements. The asshole went on a mysterious leave that no supervisor was permitted to discuss and she never returned.’  Similarly, a salesman wrote me that he had been the top performer in his group until he got leukemia, but his performance slowed during chemotherapy. His supervisor called him every day to yell at him about how incompetent he was, and then doubled this sick salesperson’s quota. The salesman eventually quit and found a better workplace, but apparently because he documented the abuse, his boss was demoted. (P.S. This is one my favorite "asshole boss" images. It is from BNET's article on Bosses: A Field Guide. This is "The Dictator," check him and the rest of his friends out).

    Button 6. Recruit Fellow Victims and Witnesses.  As the government employee shows us, an especially effective tactic is to recruit colleagues who are fellow victims of an abusive boss, coworker, or workplace to help support your case.  It is far more difficult for management – or a judge – to dismiss a complaint from a group of victims than a single victim. The power of this tactic is confirmed by in-depth case studies by Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, an Assistant Professor at The University of New Mexico. Her analysis of how victims of bullying fought back, and what methods are most likely to succeed, suggests that people who work in concert with others to battle back experience less distress, are more likely to keep their own jobs and are more likely to force bullies out.

    In addition, finding witnesses who are willing to back your version of the events, and to provide you with emotional support, is important for strengthening your case against workplace assholes — and for bolstering your spirits as well. 

    7. Take legal action if you must, but do so as a last resort. There is a growing legal movement against bullying in the workplace, and employment lawyers keep telling me that it will get easier to collect damages against “equal opportunity assholes,” not just against racist and sexist jerks. Documentation is essential if you are considering making a legal claim. And certainly there are plenty of asshole bosses and employers that deserve to be slapped with massive fines.  BUT if you are suffering workplace abuse, the best thing for YOU might be to get out before you suffer much, if any, damage. I had a long conversation with two smart lawyers about this recently, and they pointed out an unfortunate fact of life that every person with an asshole boss needs to understand: The more you lose – – the deeper your depression, your anxiety, and your financial losses, and the more physical ailments you suffer –- the better your legal case against the asshole boss or company.  So the more you suffer, the more money you can get. The implication for me is, if you possibly can, why not get out before you suffer horrible damages in the first place?

    Wwwreuterscom There are no instant cures and easy answers for people who are trapped in nasty workplaces. But I hope my little list of tips can help those of who are struggling to fight back against an asshole boss. And please write me at robert.sutton@stanford.edu to let me know what you think of these tips, and especially, if you have more tips for battling back – and winning — against workplace assholes.

    Here is a new one that I am thinking about adding to the list: Laugh at the asshole's insults and forward his or nasty emails to the boss –– the idea here is that if you treat the asshole's nasty actions as something that doesn't deserve serious treatment and laugh it off, it does less harm and provides a basis for bringing the group of victims together to battle back. And in this case, they also forwarded the nasty emails to the asshole's boss.  To me, this is another variation of two important themes: 1.To the extent that you can find allies to fight back against an asshole, you have more power and more emotional support; and 2. Documenting the assholes actions is a huge help as that way you can use the bullies own actions and words as ammunition.

     

  • Places That Don’t Tolerate Assholes: Updated Honor Roll

    This list started last year when a reporter asked, “The No Asshole Rule is fun to talk about, but does anyone ever actually use it?”  It turns out that there is also a lot good news out there, lots of great leaders and many civilized places that people can work. I wrote an initial list back then, and I update it every now and then. This is the latest. This list is far from exhaustive, but check out the breadth of places and the different ways that the rule is used:

    Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway   As Buffett's right-hand man and long-time Berkshire Hathaway Vice-Chairman Charlie Munger puts it in Snowball "We had the no asshole rule very early. Our basic rule is that we don't deal with assholes."  Check out this post for more details and thoughts.

    Barclays Capital. They don’t use the word “asshole,” because they are, after all, a respectable financial institution! BusinessWeek reports:

    “Hotshots who alienate colleagues are told to change or leave. "We have a 'no jerk' rule around here," says Chief Operating Officer Rich Ricci.”

    The Disbarred Lawyer. The Village Voice tells us that attorney Kenny Heller might be the most obnoxious in New York City and that the powers that be finally had enough of his antics:

    ‘After 50 years of heaping abuse on everyone within earshot and hurling accusations of conspiracies, "favoritism," and "cronyism" at countless judges and lawyers, the 77-year-old Heller has earned this distinction: No other lawyer in the city but Heller, according to records of his disciplinary hearing, has been ousted for "obstructive and offensive behavior which did not involve fraud or deception."’

    ‘Heller was disbarred for basically "being an asshole," as one adversary puts it. And in their profession, the rival adds, "that takes some doing."’

    SPM Communications. Principal Suzanne Miller won a national contest for women-owned business, in part because her company applies the no-jerk rule to both employees and customers. As the Dallas Morning News reported:

    “It struck a chord with the judges and audience,” she said. “Everyone has worked somewhere crappy."   

    Ms. Miller described the contest as “American Idol for businesswomen.” About 900 applicants from around the country were whittled down to 20 finalists who assembled in Phoenix to present their cases before an audience and a panel of judges.

    “Part of the competition was to give a three-minute elevator speech on how we’re different and why we’ll reach the mark,” Ms. Miller said. Like the TV talent show, the contestants ran through a rehearsal, got ripped apart by coaches and then performed for real the next day. Ms. Miller basically got her spiel down to nine words: "Life is too short to work with mean people." 

    Obama Campaign.  As I wrote on this blog, an article in Politico suggests that the rule was applied in the campaign and helped them deal with setbacks and losses without freaking-out or blamestroming.  Cheif strategist David Axelrod is quoted as saying to a fellow staff member ""There are no assholes,” Axelrod responded. “There are going to be no assholes on this campaign.”


    Lloyd Gosselink and Perkins Coie.  Lawyers may earn their bad reputations at times, but I have been pleasantly surprised by how many firms espouse and enforce “no asshole rules.”  Joshua de Koning, is firm Administrator of Lloyd Gosselink Blevins Rochelle & Townsend, which is located in Austin, Texas.  He wrote me that a few months back “I ordered my copy of The No Asshole Rule a couple of weeks ago from Amazon.com and am enjoying it thoroughly.  The title caught my attention, not just because it's a great title, but because our firm has had the exact same rule (phrased in exactly the same way) since it's founding in 1984.”  And they are not alone, Perkins Coie, a national law firm that with headquarters in Seattle has applied the “no jerk rule” for years, which has helped the firm to be named one of “the Top 100 Best Companies to Work for” five years in a row. See this story at Human Resources Executive Online for more about how the rule works at Perkins Coie (and other nuances of the rule).

    IDEO. I talk about IDEO, one of the most famous innovation firm in the world, in The No Asshole Rule. Check out Fast Company's and BusinessWeek's lists of the most innovative companies in the world. IDEO ranks 5th and 15th respectively — alongside giants like BMW and Procter & Gamble. They also are explicit about applying the no asshole rule in hiring.

    Sterling Foundation Management. Sterling helps wealthy individuals establish and management private foundations. CEO and co-founder Roger D. Sterling wrote me, after “stumbling” on The No Asshole Rule that: ‘This is a principle that I was told about early in my career as "Never do business with an Asshole," and which we have since adopted. We've applied it to both clients and employees, to greatly beneficial effect. I would reckon it of equal or greater worth than present value analysis, which I must have been taught a dozen times in the course of getting to a Ph.D. in applied economics.’

    Gold’s Gym. Joe Gold was founder of the famous gym that produced multiple body building champions, including a certain future film star and California governor named Arnold. His management philosophy was: “To keep it simple you run your gym like you run your house. Keep it clean and in good running order. No jerks allowed, members pay on time and if they give you any crap, throw them out. There's peace where there's order."

     

    van Aartrijk Group. Peter van Aartrijk is CEO and founder of this 14 person marketing and advertising. He has used the rule since 2000, when the firm was founded. As Mr. van Aartrijk told the Wall Street Journal in 2007:

     

    I decided we would surround ourselves with clients who are fun to be with and are still very smart. All of what we've done since has been built around that simple philosophy — a 'No Assholes Policy,' or NAP."

    Mr. van Aartrijk reports that applies the rule to employees as well as clients, and that: that he routinely uses this policy to turn away clients:

    "I probably turn away about 20% of the revenue we could be bringing in. But I think we gain over the long term, in relationships with clients; we're still growing 20% a year. We make new clients aware of the NAP up front. Most of them love it. Some send emails to others and blind-copy me, and they say, 'Be sure to ask him about his NAP.'"

    Perhaps clients who are considering working with this company should take the Asshole Client for Hell Exam (ACHE) as a self-test first!

    Robert W. Baird.  This financial services firm was #39 on Fortune's 2008 Best Places to Work list.  Now, they are up to #11. Fortune asks: "What makes it so great?" And they answer 'They tout "the no asshole rule" at this financial services firm; candidates are interviewed extensively, even by assistants who will be working for them." Since I first learned about Baird, I have spoken to multiple people from the company, including CEO Paul Purcell, who enforces the rules with zest and humor.  Here are some of the details.

    The Wine Buyer.  The belief that the no asshole rule ought to be applied to customers can be seen in many industries.  A California wine buyer explained how he applies the rule:

    “In my business, we have a rule that says that a customer can either be an arsehole (I'm English originally) or a late pay, but not both. We have reduced stress considerably by excluding some customers on this basis.”

    A related concept is “asshole taxes:” I know people in occupations ranging from plumber to management consultant who don’t “fire” asshole customers, but charge them substantially hire fees as “battle pay” for enduring the abuse.

    “Asshole-Free Section” in a Bar. I love this recent post by Pam over at Writing, Work and Weasels:

    ‘Once, at my father’s pub, we had a particularly raunchy crowd of drunken, loudmouth idiots. One of our regulars took a piece of cardboard from a beer delivery box and a magic marker, and scrawled “Asshole-Free Section.” He stuck it on the corner of the bar where we were sitting, and we entertained ourselves for an hour or so saying “hey, didn’t you bother to read the sign?” to anyone who came to sit with us.’

    Mozilla, the folks who bring us the Firefox browser. Asa Dotzler, their open source marketing genius, explained to me what it isn't efficient to be an asshole there, or in the open source world in general.

     

    Washington Mutual, Before the Greed Set In. Lou Pepper was CEO of Washington Mutual in the 1980’s. Lou was a lawyer when he was brought in as CEO. It was then a small local bank that was losing about 5 million dollars a month. Everyone assumed that his job was to shutdown the bank or to sell it. Instead, Lou helped turned the company around and it has since become a huge and successful bank. When Lou heard about the book, he wrote me “I was CEO of Washington Mutual in the 1980s and had a clear rule for our hiring. It was hire the smartest we can so long as they are not assholes. In 1990, when my successor took, over he kept the same rule.” Lou told me that it was not the first time that he had applied the rule; he used it at the law firm that he led before taking the Washington Mutual job. (P.S. Alas, WaMu is now a victim of its own greed and collapsed as part of the meltdown. Under Lou Pepper, they became a great bank, but it didnt last.)

    Bible Studies Class. This one still amazes me more than any other experience that I’ve had since publishing the book. I’ve written about it before, but no list of different places where the rule has been discussed and used would be complete without it. Psychology Professor Richard Beck wrote a post called "1 Corinthians and The No Asshole Rule." He starts out:

    'Two weeks ago it was my turn to teach my adult Bible class at church. We are going through 1 Corinthians and I was up to teach the famous Chapter 13, "Love is patient, love is kind…"

    And I thought to myself, "Richard, what are you possibly going to say in class that hasn't been said before about 1 Corinthians 13?"

    Then it hit me. I started the class by doing a book review and reading selections from Dr. Robert Sutton's new book The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't.

    Beck concludes:

    'So, we reflected on all this in my Sunday School class. And after reflection on the No Asshole Rule, I read these famous words:

    "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs…"

    Basically, don't be an asshole.'

    SuccessFactors. This Silicon Valley firm is one of the fastest growing software firms in the world.  I have blogged about them extensively since publishing the books because they not only have a “no assholes rule,” they require all new hires to sign an agreement – they call it  “the rules of engagement” — that includes making a commitment not to act like an asshole. I also gave a talk on The No Asshole Rule to all 400 people in the company last January, just before the book came out – which was great fun, as the audience hollered and hooted constantly. Check out their website for goodies including a video of CEO Lars Dalgaard talking about the rule (and admitting that he is a recovering asshole) and also an article that I wrote for the McKinsey Quarterly that talks about their company (and other aspects of building a civilized workplace). As of May, 2008, SuccessFactors is still going great guns and I had a great time talking about the rule to a gathering of over 500 people in San Francisco — employees, customers, suppliers, and so on — in early June called SuccessConnect.

    Arup’s “No Dickhead Rule.” Arup is one of the most renowned construction engineering firms in the world; in fact, they were recently profiled in The New Yorker (Check out this abstract for the ‘The Anti-Gravity Men”). As I wrote here, Robert Care, CEO of the Arup’s Australian and Asian operations recently wrote me that they instituted the “no dickhead rule” in his part of the firm:

    "I work for a truly wonderful professional services company that is truly extraordinary and that is doing really well in many many ways.  Three years ago I became the CEO of our Australasian operation.  It occurred to me that there was an issue (not just in the Australasian part of our operations) that needed to be dealt with. I then heard something in September 2005 that started me thinking, and then talking to my close colleagues.  They encouraged me to speak more widely in my organisation and eventually we evolved a 'no dickhead policy'. "

    Goldcorp in Canada. The CEO Ian Telfer reports spending a lot of time enforcing the rule:

    "There is a bestseller right now called The No Asshole Rule. It is all about: 'Don't hire any assholes.' So I spend a lot of time picking who we're going to hire. You need someone with technical qualifications, but you also have to find someone who can work with other people and respect other people."

     

    Hamilton Canada: The Jerk Free City?  I confess that this is stretching it, as it is a proposal that has not been implemented.  One of my favorite articles on the book appeared in the Hamilton Spectator. Author Jay Rob proposed, “Let’s Try To Be a Jerk Free City.” Rob’s half serious proposal was that they adopt "Hamilton: The Jerk Free City" as their official slogan.  And he added:

    To stand by our slogan, we'd have stand firm on our no-jerk rule. We wouldn't work for them. Do business with them. Or elect them. Everyone would get a shot at redemption through eight-week intensive courses run by previously invisible receptionists, cleaning staff and admin. assistants. Folks who refused to get along would have to move along. If the Aerotropolis doesn't fly, let's pave over some farmland and build a walled-in suburban compound of McMansions where ill-tempered big-shot bullies could snarl at each other and leave the rest of us alone.”

    Shakespere Miami: As Colleen Stoval, their Artistic Director, wrote me:

    Behavior in the theater can easily become very destructive. Directors routinely turn a blind eye to bad behavior in the name of nurturing or retaining top talent. Some talented actors think that to be a "real" leading actor, they need to behave like jerks. This attitude can become destructive and quickly poison the morale of an entire cast. Anyone applying for a position with Shakespeare Miami is not only told about our "No Assholes" rule, they are required to sign an agreement to abide by it. It is posted on our website: www.shakespearemiami.com.

    The diversity of this list delights me. Sure, there are still too many jerks out there and too many organizations (and apparently cities) where every day feels like a walk down Asshole Avenue. But there are also a lot of smart and civilized people who are fighting back and, better yet, winning. I’d love your comments. In particular, if you have some new examples of places that talk about and apply the rule, please tell me!
     
    P.S. These examples focus mostly on “top down changes,” but organizational norms can also change when persistent and influential people work to set the right example and to point out – even in public – when behavior happens that demonstrates the wrong way to behave. A good example of this comes from a British manager who wrote me that he works in a firm that is infested with assholes, but since he read The No Asshole Rule, he and several colleagues are working to change their norms. He described one of the most effective methods as follows  

    ‘I now attend a lot of management meetings where I have started to introduce the idea of a civilized work place and that we lose available efficiency and effectiveness due to people being de-motivated. When I am now faced with negativity or an "Asshole" I have started to use a new approach of: “surely you don’t want us to breed that type of feeling in the business or listen to what you just said.”  I have found this head on approach very successful.’