Please Help Me Update! Places and People That Use The No Asshole Rule

 Dear Work Matters readers,

As I am getting toward the end of our long effort to write "Scaling Up Excellence" with Huggy Rao, I am starting to do a bit of blogging and tweeting again.  As part of it, I got an interesting email from a guy named Ben about a really awful battle over verbal abuse on something called the Linux kernel mailing list -- look here, bad stuff. Ben asked me an interesting question I would like your help with: Which organizations actually have "no asshole" rules?  Do they work? How do they implement them.  I haven't been thinking about this much lately as I am focused on scaling. I did update the post below in early 2012, but I wonder if folks have any suggestions for places I should add -- or subtract.  It seems like something worth maintaining.  Thanks so much! 

Bob

 

A reporter asked me a couple years back, “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 here, 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, which I offer in celebration of Work Matters passing 2,000,000 pageviews and the impending publication of Good Boss, Bad Boss in paperback.

This list is far from exhaustive, but check out the breadth of places and the different ways that the rule is used.  And if you work in a company that has the rule, that uses it well or has tried to implement it, but with limited success, I would love to hear about. 

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

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."

2tor: This online education company is serious about the rule; the media toned things down, but the use the A-word in their materials:

The company is proud of its hard-working, but fun culture and hires based on both job qualifications and character. The company handbook says, "when you're hiring someone, don't trade off competence for character -- we need people with both." The quotation comes under a heading in the handbook that could be paraphrased as "No Jerks Allowed."

Robert W. Baird.  This financial services firm was first  #39 on Fortune's 2008 Best Places to Work list.  Now, they are up to #11. Fortune asked in 2008 "What makes it so great?" And they answered '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.

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.”

IDEO: The iconic innovation has used the rule for as long as I can remember, from its founding in 1979.  And I've seem them use it in all sorts of ways during my 15 year plus involvement with the place.  As their Careers FAQ page advises (and note they are kind enough to plug this blog):

Talented and diverse people: We hire talented design thinkers who represent many perspectives, disciplines, nationalities, and points of view. We believe a civilized workplace is a more rigorous and sustainable place to work, so we don’t hire jerks. (Please see The No Asshole Rule by Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and IDEO Fellow, or read his blog.) We provide ways to share knowledge and projects among our people, believing that we all work better and learn more when we freely interact and collaborate with other talented people.

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."’

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 a few years 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.”

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).

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." 

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.

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

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”). Look at this beautiful Kinas TV building the worked in Beijing. 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'. "

I recently had an email from Care; He reports that he is now heading ARUP's operations in Europe and that he has introduced the "No Jerk Rule" as the word "Dickhead" didn't fit with local sensibilities, but the rule is pretty much the same.  

Mozilla (which brings us the Firefox browser): Asa Dotzler a product director, leader of many efforts to spread Firefix, and a stalwart of the company and open source software movement explained to me what it isn't efficient to be an asshole at Mozilla, or in the open source world in general.  As Asa explained, the work they do requires so much cooperation with each other  and with people from outside the company (many of whom are volunteers, who do the coding or marketing Firefox out love for the product and what it represents about a participative and decentralized approach to the Internet), that acting like an asshole is rare because it is so downright dumb when you need so much mutual respect and trust to get the work done.

Index, a Danish Nonprofit:  Their goal is to use "design to improve life."  The CEO Kigge Hvid wrote me "One of our few management mottos has from the start been, KEEP OUT THE ASSHOLES. " She went on to explain:

The motto has lucky been used quite seldom. I guess that we for the last 5 years have used the motto 5-6 times – even though we work with thousands of people around the globe every year. When used we simply calls the asshole - meet with the asshole - and tell them to go play somewhere else. I my self have taken great pleasure in making these calls to a few powerful decision makers, on the basis of their brutal treatment of people working with INDEX.

Former Gillette CEO Jim Kilts advises: "Never Hire a Prick" in his book. Kilts argues that one of the practices that fueled Gillette's success during the years he led the company was "Never Hire a Prick, Even a Smart One."   And, indeed, Kilts has an impressive track record, having led turnarounds at both Nabisco and Gillette.  Kilts talks about how how "pricks"  are smug self promoters and  are destructive to the organization, and him it is essential to avoid hiring them or to drive them out of a company. As he says, they can get short-term results, but they break down people and organizations over the long haul.

Ian Telfe, CEO of Goldcorp in Canada, reported 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.

Garry Turdeau Womps Donald Trump with the rule in Doonesbury: You can read about it here and get to the whole cartoon. 

  
 Michael Minns Human Resources in Australia.  The have a "no dickheads policy" too, which is described in quite a bit of detail on the link, along with a metric that shows it is working" "It’s the best place I’ve ever worked at, in fact it is so good that I don’t need an alarm clock to get up in the morning".

Crossfit Gym at Virgina Beach.  Check of this article on the "The Asshole Barrier."  This quote sums things up: 

The waiver at CrossFit VB states, “CrossFit Virginia Beach strives to provide a positive and encouraging environment for our clients. Anyone that is disruptive or negatively influences this environment is subject to having their membership revoked. This is at the sole discretion of CrossFit Virginia Beach Management.” The word “asshole” isn’t used, but Gill says she frequently tells clients that “it’s basically an asshole clause.”

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, as I said, if you have some new examples of places that talk about and apply the rule, please tell me!

Finally, a warning, I have dealt with a number of companies over the years that espouse an no asshole rule, or want to, but are filled with assholes.  In such case, it isn't a good idea to put the no asshole rule in your corporate values, handbooks, or recruiting materials because you risk being seen as both an asshole and a hypocrite.

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.’

Comments

[kevin brislawn]

I really think this book applies to my past dilemma at a hopital I worked at. Not only was my lead an asshole, but the higher ups too, all the way to the head manager, but they see it as the underlings problem. So they possibly dont have a No asshole rule there at all. If you think hopitals are without Assholes, they actually emply the most!

[Bob Sutton]

Jay,

Thanks for the question on my blog… at one point, we actually had a website set-up to do this, but never launched because in the end we decided it was not in very good taste… I also had a police captain call me about that time and make some threatening noises after someone had left him an anonymous copy. Sorry, part of me still wants to do it, but part of me thinks it is a bad idea!

I leave it to you to buy the copies and send them out yourself.

If you want something really tasteless in this vein, see this:

http://www.thisnext.com/item/36BEE742/Send-A-Big-Pink-Rubber-A-hole

Cheers,

Bob

[Jay Hitchcock]

Is there an anonymous service that will send this great book out to people who really need to read it? I'd be happy to pay to have this book sent to a few of my "colleagues" that still behave like work is a second grade play ground.

[TallUki]

yeah, great idea JT! How about creating a list of nominated assholes with the full details?
This would be a great tool to have for all HR people around the world. We use database for tracking denied companies, same could be done for people. With photos, home address and the full statement of their sins.

[Ann]

Thank you for your book. I'm an executive/administrative assistant/secretary and keep repeating the pattern of working with C-line executives for maybe an extra 10-15k a year? Your book is indirectly helping me ask better questions when I interview and to trust my observations. I'm still idealistic at 40 so I hope to have a nice boss some day.

[The good Dr is quite entertaining]

I saw the good Dr. at a Stanford class. He's compelling and an entertaining speaker. We all know the content rings true and we'd all be better off if we reduced our "temporary" asshole events as well.

[Kevin Bush]

Do you have any thoughts etc. on the topic of not being able to make a commitment or decision in the workplace. I have seen situations where people have lacked the ability or willingness to act & the damage it causes. This is why I have come up with the phrase “I used to be indecisive but now I am not so sure” as a way to laugh off the ill effects.

Please let me you what your thoughts are

[Chrysoula Holtzhauer]

I want to say, that from an employee’s point of view, identifying the ‘asshole’ at your workplace, doesn’t really change things for the better; especially when these a-holes are in Upper Management and all they care about is the bottom line!

I’ve endured several years of offensive behavior (to say the least!) and I’ve worked in this hostile environment always hoping that tomorrow will be a better day…

I’ve watched 2 Area Managers, 3 District Managers and many GM’s get fired, not to mention those who just walked out /quit because of the abusive & demanding characters of the Upper Management.

What can a simple employee do in a situation like this?

Corporate folks must not have any interpersonal training on how to treat their employees. It’s a domino effect—happy employees, are loyal and work hard and go the extra mile; unhappy employees, resent their bosses, don’t give a care and aren’t productive….
Don’t they get it???

Since late 2004, I’ve watched the front door of our establishment become a revolving door---employees would come in (and some of them had real potential), and almost instantly, they would be heading out the door again, to never come back…

It’s been a roller coaster ride, constantly struggling, going home exhausted, aggravated and bitter just to go back the next day to put up with it all over again.

We’ve had several incidents take place over the last few months which inflamed the situation to such a degree, the entire crew and Lower Management just quit!

These incidents included: no raises, refusal to give earned vacation pay, bonuses taken away without notice, demotions, no training but still expecting employees to perform at their optimum ability, unreasonable changes in the work-schedule, and over-turning previous agreements made in the past with Upper Management.

It had also been said that the ones they wanted to get rid of, they’d make them quit so they cannot get unemployment. And those who were smart enough to object and say, “I’m calling Human Resources”, were told that they would be terminated on the spot!

So again, I ask----what is a simple employee to do in a situation like this?

I just cannot describe to you the stress, the anger, the disappointment I’ve felt the last few months. Not to mention the added aggravation from having to deal with Stupidity in the Workplace!

I will read your book, but I’m afraid Assholes will continue to rule in Corporate America and there’s not much we can do about it!

[brownshoes]

Folks, dignity and empowerment are just fine for our everyday lives. But we as a society need something more.

We need a few people, in the backbone of a nation, particularly our military and pubic service, who still spell Character and Disicipline with capital letters and understand these qualities as simple, non negotiables.

Character is a bright hard line. I am not going to define it for the Robert Sutton generation, but it is not always nice or fair. Discipline is not just being a good little boy or girl and brushing your teeth and respecting others - it is the ability to act as part of a TEAM and OBEY.

These fundamentals cannot be taught by model or example. They can only be drummed in by adversity and confrontation, by someone who is willing to contront. Bob Knight understands this, as do our military veterans. Thank God someone still does.

[dancer]

What about the professor who uses his power of the pen to give students Fs because he does not like their advisor or department? Even when students win the grade dispute, the pain goes on.

[Jeroen Goetschalckx]

Hi Bob, Haven't read your book yet and probably will not because you are absolutely right but like most of us (I guess), I've already found out about this. When I was a kid my father used to say to me: If you don't like how things are going, then make a career and do it differently. That's what I did and I became an MD of a small sized company (30 employees). But I had to put up with so much sh.. through my entire professional career and still seem to have to. It's not just the fact that it is annoying and tiring. The worst part is that in the end you don't like working anymore. And you end up looking forward to your retirement although you are way too young for that (I'm 45). I wish I had founded my own company. Customers can be assholes too, but at least they pay the bills.
But hey! Good subject! But it only works when the assholes buy the book and not the ones who have to cope with them. But that would probably cut your sales by 90 %. So maybe it is not such a good idea after all.

[BALAJI.M.G]

hey.....Mr.shutton... I REALLY APPRECIATE THE WORK U HAVE DONE FOR THE BOOK "THE NO ASSHOLE RULES" to be frank i am not a book freak.... by chance i saw this book in the stands picked a while and i read the firt two lines of the page,,, i was really impressed ,,,,yup....i traded the book for myself,,,,i am really happy to know... how assholes... are....its really working in my company to.....(workplace)..
and i am very much greatfull for the book...
......
M.G.BALAJI
"DESIGN ENGINEER"
TECPRO SYSTEMS LTD,
BANGALORE-INDIA.

[BALAJI.M.G]

hey.....Mr.shutton... I REALLY APPRECIATE THE WORK U HAVE DONE FOR THE BOOK "THE NO ASSHOLE RULES" to be frank i am not a book freak.... by chance i saw this book in the stands picked a while and i read the firt two lines of the page,,, i was really impressed ,,,,yup....i traded the book for myself,,,,i am really happy to know... how assholes... are....its really working in my company to.....(workplace)..
and i am very much greatfull for the book...
......
M.G.BALAJI
"DESIGN ENGINEER"
TECPRO SYSTEMS LTD,
BANGALORE-INDIA.

[Ed T.]

I picked up this book at the local book emporium, out of curiosity with the title. I am glad I did. For the past several years, I have been suffering what I thought was age or health-related burnout, and was really wondering what was wrong with me. Upon reading the book, I was able to identify what the malaise was: several key people in my organization are in fact assholes, and I was very close to the end of my rope. This has been a real revelation, and I am beginning to think that maybe "asshole poisoning" is at least partially behind the increase in road rage, work rage, and pretty-much-every-place-else rage.

This is a topic I intend to explore further.

Thanks for a very informative book.

~EdT.

[Debra]

I work in an environment where the assholes/bullies look like sorority girls. They are all smiles, good clothes, perfect teeth, etc. For the first few months after joining the firm, I thought that their bad behavior was the result of a particular individual's incompetence. However, it soon became apparent that this nastiness was a form of bonding for these women at the expense of the "Losers" they victimized.

One day the head of the office, who is also the head of the bully brigade, was being particulary overt and vicious to one of my co-workers in a staff meeting and before I knew that my lips were moving I heard my voice saying "Your inner ugly is showing."

My life certainly hasn't been easier since then, but "the inner ugly" has become legendary among the non-bullying staff and a kind of rallying cry for those of us who refuse to drink the mean-girl koolade.

[graham]

The term asshole is a tad crass.
Crassness itself is a behaviour of assholes. This has me wondering about the true character of the author.
It seems that it's just a marketing ploy whereby if you first can grab a persons attention (media crassness) then you now have an audience with which making a sale may be possible. It's the A (attention) in the AIDS rule of marketing.. attention, interest, desire and sell.
Me, myself, I'm not conned by this shameless marketing.
Emotional immaturity is a common affliction of mankind. It's been that way forever albeit seems to be getting worse lately.
Even though I don't condone the crass marketing of the "no asshole rule" and feel that the author must even be one himself, that does not take away from the validity of advice that is given.

[NN]

Well, if we don't want assholes around us, we need to define what a real asshole is. My take on that is:

It is a person that is indifferent to other people’s feelings.
It is a person that satisfies selfish needs regardless of others.
It is a person who uses manipulation and intimidation to control others.
It is a person that goes beyond the formal and informal rules.
It is a person that creates the truth to his/hers advantage.
It is people the leaves a trail of conflicts behind them.

That is pretty much the definition of a psychopath...

[Rosie]

These comments have been invaluable to me as is this whole site. I thank you for your comment.

[feralpigeon]

I have a theory that the leadership style of Corporate America(from Fortune 500 down to sidewalk lemonade stands) mimics the leadership style that we have in the Whitehouse. In other words, American CEOs tend toward asshole when the President and Vice President are assholes. Think about it and see if I am not correct. How were American CEOs behaved when Jimmy Carter was in office? How about Gerald Ford? George W Bush? What would change if we were to have President Cheney? Should this affect the way we vote? What would it be like to deliver a pizza to Hillary Clinton? What about Barack Obama, or Giuliani, Romney, or McCain. I would suggest there is no benefit to electing President Asshole. If assholes spread like rabbits then having one in the Whitehouse means that all Cabinet members have to be assholes. Consider - Do we want an asshole in charge of FEMA? Or of the CIA? Or as an ambassador to the United Nations? Or as chief of the World Bank? Is your current boss an asshole? Mine is.

[Cindy McKinsey]

what about people who've been bullied and become asshole as a result of bullying, to defend themselfs ? Any opinions or experience on that?
thanks