For a better World – The No Asshole Rule
I recently picked up Bob Sutton’s “The No Asshole Rule” mostly because of its amusing title and of course I would love to learn how to get rid of the assholes in the world. We all know and come in contact with many assholes in our daily life so dealing with them would be a great skill to have. If you are questioning how big of an asshole you are, please take the ARSE Test.
Mr. Sutton explains what everyone knows but no one wants to admit, assholes ruin our day and reduce our productivity and hence the profitability of the organizations we work. What can you do about it? Don’t hire them in the first place. So you already hired a few? Help them change or fire them. It may sound a bit simplistic but really, is it that hard to justify? Not really. If we were to all tell the assholes we know, that they are being an asshole, maybe then they would actually do something about it. A kind of “pay it forward” goodwill to make the world a better place.
It would work like this….. You realize you are being an asshole and work on improving your “inner-ugly”. Since you are now self aware of your own asshole-ish-ness you can begin to notice it in other people and tell them about it. Call them out. Yes it is hard but DO IT. If I’m being an asshole – Tell Me! Then since you outed the asshole you can tell them to pay-it-forward by helping another asshole realize thier inner-ugly.
It is a socially difficult and potentially career limiting move, but if you approach it with grace and kindness you could help make the world a better place. Turn it into a email chain – if you help three assholes realize their asshole-ish-ness then sixteen friendly people will grace your day. Cheers!