Fortune just came out with its top 100 Best Places to Work list. I've written a lot about many of the companies on the list, as many have "no asshole rules" (albeit usually in more polite language). Google is Number 1 again; as I wrote in The No Asshole Rule, Senior Executive Shona Brown had this great quote when I talked to her about the rule at Google, "It just isn't efficient to be an asshole here." When I gave a talk on the book at Google last March, I asked the audience about this, and they started telling fairly detailed stories about how -- because teamwork is so important to them and because their status system emphasizes who has the best ideas and gets the most done above all else-- that acting like a bully was a career limiting move. In fact, after the talk, a woman came up to me and kind of whispered to me "I am really not a very nice person, but I have to act nice here, or I can't get anything done." That's a pretty strong testament to the power of strong social norms.
I have known Shona a long time as she was a doctoral student in our program at Stanford. I have two favorite memories of her. The first, which shows how far she has traveled, is that she was so broke when she came to Stanford that I loaned her, I think, $300. She paid me back promptly! The second is that she was asked by the local Palo Alto paper something like "What mythical figure would you want to be." Her answer was "Santa Claus, because I love children and love to travel." Great answer.
Back to the 100 best places. Some of the other firms on the list that I have written about include #29 SAS Institute , #44 Plante & Moran, #55 Perkins Coie, and #87 Yahoo!. I was also especially pleased to see financial services firm Robert W. Baird was listed as #39. And they were described as follows:
They tout the "no-a**hole rule" at this financial services firm; candidates are interviewed extensively, even by assistants who will be working with them.
I will look into Baird more closely, as I hope to add them to my honor roll of companies that have the rule. If you have any more information about them and how they apply the rule, please get in touch with me.
Top 100 employers can really differentiate themselves in the labor market. Many enjoy supercharged business models that spin off tons of cash (like Google). With an above average selection process they can pick the creme de la creme of available talent. The result: many new recruits who are well-balanced, grounded and overflowing with desirable psychological characteristics. Few are arseholes!!
robert edward cenek
Cenek Report
www.cenekreport.com
Posted by: robert edward cenek | January 26, 2008 at 01:52 PM