Sutton quickly disarms readers with admissions of his own regrettably asshole-ish moments. He then asks if any readers have managed to get through life without being an asshole. If so, he asks such readers to “...please contact me immediately. I want to know how you’ve accomplished this superhuman feat”.
This admission and the reassurance that we’re all jerks sometimes lends perspective to the problem and reinforces the delineation between the true, “certified assholes” and the “temporary assholes” he defines in the beginning of the first chapter.
As support for his general argument, Sutton pairs anecdotes of nightmarish abuse with findings from toxic organization studies. It's a structure that confirms our own observations, reassuring us that we’re not crazy by affirming that the anecdotes aren’t isolated, exceptional instances. A book that provides a great example of decisions that create toxic work environments can be found in GRIT about Enron.
He backs up these horrifying stories with statistics about the large percentages of victims and witnesses of bullying that leave their current company.
To prevent this competence exodus and maintain a jerk-free workplace, management and employees must, he presses, act swiftly and definitively when they see poor behavior - regardless of the asshole's job title. It must also be public; doing so will reassure current employees, lure in valuable new hires, and repel the undesirables. For more on finding the right people and removing those who are toxic read the book WHO.
As we all are jerks from time to time, spotting jerk qualities in yourself is very important. Surrounding yourself with the right people has a major impact on your behavior. People surrounded by assholes tend to develop asshole tendencies. There is a quiz included in the book for a helpful introspection. Tim Ferris talks a great deal about the importance of removing people from your life that are not bettering you in his book The 4 Hour Workweek.
Not everyone can change their environment or resign; Dr. Sutton dedicates an entire chapter to survival tips for maintaining sanity and dignity in a toxic workplace. For more insights on this specific survival method, read his new book, The Asshole Survival Guide, to give the topic its due.
Though The No Asshole Rule outlines policies that, for the most part, executives would need to implement, managers and employees can use it to encourage civility at work. However, Sutton stresses the need to see to the implementation of well-meaning policies at all levels and the personal responsibility of each member of the organization to see that civility is the rule. A wonderful book about this subject and company culture in general is Bait & Switch.
Robert I. Sutton is a Professor of Management Science and Engineering at the Stanford Engineering School, where he has been for 35+ years. He teaches undergrads, grads, CEOs, and others, while writing, offering seminars and speaking engagements, and recording his podcast. His published body of work includes his blogging, and many, many articles and essays.
His seven management books include these bestsellers: The No Asshole Rule, Good Boss, Bad Boss, Scaling Up Excellence (with co-author Huggy Rao), and as mentioned his newest book is The Asshole Survival Guide.
The No Asshole Rule, has appeared on New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Business Week bestseller lists. Dr. Sutton republished in 2010 with a different publisher in order to add new material about the book's impact.
Dr. Sutton has a website where you can find links to his written works and blog, and see what books he recommends or rants he's written.