Bob Sutton

12 Books Every Leader Should Read:Updated

I first posted this in 2011, but I update it now and then.  Note I have removed two from the list: Men and Women of the Corporation and Who Says that Elephants Can't Dance?  They are both great books, but I am trying to stick to 12 books and the two new ones below edge them out. Here goes:

I was looking through the books on Amazon to find something that struck my fancy, and instead, I started thinking about the books that have taught me much about people, teams, and organizations -- while at the same time -- provide useful guidance (if sometimes only indirectly) about what it takes to lead well versus badly.  The 12 books below are the result. 

Most are research based, and none are a quick read (except for Orbiting the Giant Hairball). I guess this reflects my bias.  I like books that have real substance beneath them.  This runs counter the belief in the business book world at the moment that all books have to be both short and simple.  So, if your kind of business book is The One Minute Manager (which frankly, I like too... but you can read the whole thing in 20 or 30 minutes), then you probably won't like most of these books at all.

1. The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer.  A masterpiece of evidence-based management -- the strongest argument I know that "the big things are the little things." 

2. Influence by Robert Cialdini the now classic book about how to persuade people to do things, how to defend against persuasion attempts, and the underlying evidence.  I have been using this in class at Stanford for over 20 years, and I have had dozens of students say to me years later "I don't remember much else about the class, but I still use and think about that Cialdini book."

3.Made to Stick Chip and Dan Heath.  A modern masterpiece, the definition of an instant classic.  How to design ideas that people will remember and act on.   I still look at it a couple times a month and I buy two or three copies at a time because people are always borrowing it from me.  I often tell them to keep it because they rarely give it back anyway. 

4. Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman.  Even though the guy won the Nobel Prize, this book is surprisingly readable.  A book about how we humans really think, and although it isn't designed to do this, Kahneman also shows how much of the stuff you read in the business press is crap.

5. Collaboration by Morten Hansen.  He has that hot bestseller now with Jim Collins called Great By Choice, which I need to read. This is a book I have read three times and is -- by far -- the best book ever written about what it takes to build an organization where people share information, cooperate, and help each other succeed.

6. Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie.  It is hard to explain, sort of like trying to tell a stranger about rock and roll as the old song goes.  But it is the best creativity book ever written, possibly the business book related to business ever written.  Gordon's voice and love creativity and self-expression -- and how to make it happen despite the obstacles that unwittingly heartless organizations put in the way -- make this book a joy.

7. The Pixar Touch by David Price.  After reading this book, my main conclusion was that it seems impossible that Pixar exists. Read how Ed Catmull along with other amazing characters-- after amazing setbacks, weird moments, and one strange twist after another -- realized Ed's dream after working on it for decades.  Ed is working on his own book right now, I can hardly wait to see that.  When I think of Ed and so many others I have met at Pixar like Brad Bird, I know it is possible to be a creative person without being an asshole.  In fact, at least if the gossip I keep hearing from Pixar people is true, Jobs was rarely rude or obnoxious in his dealings with people at Pixar because he knew they knew more than him -- and even he was infected by Pixar's norm of civility.

8. Creativity,Inc. by Ed Catmull. Price's book is fantastic, but this is one of the best business/leadership/organization design books ever written.  As I wrote in my blurb -- and this is no B.S.- "“This is the best book ever written on what it takes to build a creative organization. It is the best because Catmull’s wisdom, modesty, and self-awareness fill every page. He shows how Pixar’s greatness results from connecting the specific little things they do (mostly things that anyone can do in any organization) to the big goal that drives everyone in the company: making films that make them feel proud of one another.”  Note also that Catmull has a chapter on Steve Jobs that offers a different perspective than anyone else I have seen --and they worked together for decades.

9. The Laws of Subtraction by Matthew May.   This 2012 book has more great ideas about how to get rid of what you don't need and how to keep -- and add -- what you do need than any book ever written.  Matt has as engaging a writing style as I have ever encountered and he uses it to teach one great principle after another, from "what isn't there can trump what is" to "doing something isn't always better than doing nothing."  Then each principle is followed with five or six very short -- and well-edited pieces -- from renowned and interesting people of all kinds ranging from executives, to researchers, to artists.  It is as fun and useful as non-fiction book can be and is useful for designing every part of your life, not just workplaces.

10. Leading Teams by J. Richard Hackman.  When it comes to the topic of groups or teams, there is Hackman and there is everyone else.   If you want a light feel good romp that isn't very evidence-based, read The Wisdom of Teams.  If want to know how teams really work and what it really takes to build, sustain, and lead them from a man who has been immersed in the problem as a researcher, coach, consultant, and designer for over 40 years, this is the book for you.

11. Give and Take by Adam Grant. Adam is the hottest organizational researcher of his generation.  When I read the pre-publication version, I was so blown away by how useful, important, and interesting that Give and Take was that I gave it the most enthusiastic blurb of my life: “Give and Take just might be the most important book of this young century. As insightful and entertaining as Malcolm Gladwell at his best, this book has profound implications for how we manage our careers, deal with our friends and relatives, raise our children, and design our institutions. This gem is a joy to read, and it shatters the myth that greed is the path to success."  In other words, Adam shows how and why you don't need to be a selfish asshole to succeed in this life. America -- and the world -- would be a better place if all of memorized and applied Adam's worldview.

12. The Path Between the Seas by historian David McCullough. On building the Panama Canal.  This is a great story of how creativity happens at a really big scale. It is messy. Things go wrong. People get hurt. But they also triumph and do astounding things.  I also like this book because it is the antidote to those who believe that great innovations all come from start-ups and little companies (although there are some wild examples of entrepreneurship in the story -- especially the French guy who designs Panama's revolution -- including a new flag and declaration of independence as I recall -- from his suite in the Waldorf Astoria in New York, and successfully sells the idea to Teddy Roosevelt ).  As my Stanford colleague Jim Adams points out, the Panama Canal, the Pyramids, and putting a man on moon are just a few examples of great human innovations that were led by governments.  

I would love to know of your favorites -- and if want a systematic approach to this question, don't forget The 100 Best Business Books of All Time.

P.S. Also, for self-defense, I recommend that we all read Isaacson's Steve Jobs -- I still keep going places -- cocktail parties, family gatherings, talks I give and attend, and even the grocery store where people start talking about Jobs and especially arguing about him.  As I explained in Wired and Good Boss, Bad Boss I have come to believe that whatever Jobs was in life, in death he has become a Rorschach test -- we all just project our beliefs and values on him.

"Ascent of the A-Word" Geoffrey Nunberg's Great New Book

You have probably have heard of  Geoffrey Nunberg -- that brilliant and funny linguist on NPR.  He has a brand new asshole book called Ascent of the A-Word: Assholism, the First 60 years.  I first heard about it a few weeks back when I was contacted by George Dobbins from the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.  He asked if I might moderate Nunberg's talk on August 15th, given we are now fellow asshole guys.  I was honored to accept the invitation and I hope you can join us that evening -- you are in for a treat.

The book is a satisfying blend of great scholarship, wit, and splendid logic.  It is a joy from start to finish, and the reviewers agree.  I loved the first sentence of the Booklist review “Only an asshole would say this book is offensive. Sure, it uses the A-word a lot, but this is no cheap attempt to get laughs written by a B-list stand-up comic." 

Nunberg starts with a magnificent first chapter called The Word, which talks about the battles between "Assholes and  Anti-assholes."   I love this sentence about the current state of public discourse in America "It sometimes seems as if every corner of our public discourse is riddled with people depicting one another as assholes and treating them accordingly, whether or not they actually use the word."  As he states  later in the chapter, he doesn't have a stance for or against the word (although the very existence of the book strikes me as support for it), the aim of the book is to "explore the role that the notion of the asshole has come to play in our lives." 

He then follows-up with one delightful chapter after another, I especially loved "The Rise of Talking Dirty,"  "The Asshole in the Mirror," and "The Allure of Assholes."  I get piles of books every year about bullies, jerks, toxic workplaces, and on and on. Although this isn't a workplace book, it is the best book I have ever read that is vaguely related to the topic. 

I admired how deftly he treated "The Politics of Incivility" in the chapter on "The Assholism of Public Life."  Nunberg makes a compelling argument that critics on the right and the left both use the tactic of claiming that an opponent is rude, nasty, or indecent  -- that they are acting like assholes and ought to apologize immediately.   Nunberg documents "the surge of patently phony indignation for all sides," be it calling out people for "conservative incivility" or "liberal hate."    He captures much of this weird and destructive game with the little joke "Mind your manners, asshole."

I am barely scratching the surface, there is so much wisdom here, and it is all so fun.  Read the book.    Read and listen to this  little piece that Nunberg did recently on NPR.  This part is lovely:

Well, profanity makes hypocrites of us all. But without hypocrisy, how could profanity even exist? To learn what it means to swear, a child has to both hear the words said and be told that it's wrong to say them, ideally by the same people. After all, the basic point of swearing is to demonstrate that your emotions have gotten the better of you and trumped your inhibitions

We hope to see you at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on August 15th, it should be good fun.

Amazon Can Say "Asshole" But You Can't

This isn't the first time I have written a post like this, but the experience a No Asshole Rule fan had with Amazon today reminded me of how weird their policies are around the book's title.  In short, if you write a review of the book, and you use the word "asshole, they not only reject it, they won't let you edit it or submit another review.  Over the years, at least ten people who have written submitted positive reviews have written me to complain about this problem (I suspect people who have written negative reviews have the same problem, but they don't write me). 

I got a new one today from Bill.  There isn't much hope of changing the policy: I've tried and so has my publisher.   Bill, we will try again but will probably fail. But I do appreciate all the effort you took to write such a nice and detailed review even if Amazon won't print it.

Also, to all readers, note Bill only used the word "Asshole" once, at the very end,when he mentioned the book's title. But that was enough for Amazon's automated screening to kill the review and freeze him out from repairing it or submitting another one!

Here it is, and thanks again Bill!

By Bill SM

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't (Paperback)

Through eight years of higher education, and 20-odd years in the work-force, this book is the most important, eye-opening, business self-help book I have ever read; it literally changed my way of thinking about myself as a professional, and my functioning as an employee. I have recommended it to hundreds of college students and dozens of colleagues and friends. I have lent it to and bought it for people who needed protection from JERKS in their own places of work, and I have given it as a gift to people whom I could see had the potential to become JERK bosses - as an inoculation, if you will.

In all my years of gainful employment, I had never spent more than 3 years at any one job, picking up and leaving each time because of the JERKS (or so I thought) to whom I had to answer and with whom I had to contend. Repeatedly, I found myself saying, "I will not be associated with him/her," and then I picked up my family and moved to a new city and a new job, where I kept finding the same problems - JERKS were everywhere!

I listened to this book on CD (a good recording by actor Kerin McCue) and then read the print version after having separated from my last place of work in the industry in which I had intended to make my entire career. Filled with anger and bitterness at having been treated poorly, bullied, and abruptly canned after seven months of my new three-year contract in my new city, Professor Sutton's book finally helped me to recognize my own role in all of this - I had never learned how to deal with JERKS, and I didn't recognize how much power I was letting them have over me (and therefore my family, as well).

Since experiencing the revelations this book offered, I have launched a new career in a different, but related, industry, and I am once again climbing the corporate ladder in a company for which I have now been working for five years and going strong. I am much happier and more relaxed as a professional than ever before. I still have to contend with JERKS, but they do not bother me anymore. I have come to realize that their being horrible human beings has nothing to do with me, and they would be horrible to anyone else, as well, which is where I am now able to step in and offer support and perspective to others.

I only wish this book had been written and published two years earlier! If it had, I would still be earning twice the money I am now. Nevertheless, The No Asshole Rule helped me to understand myself and my career, and laid the groundwork for my current and future success.

The Power of Habit: Quick Review

The Power of Habit has been sitting on my desk for a couple months, as the publisher sent me an advance copy.  I didn't start reading it until today -- although I was most impressed by this recent piece in The New York Times based on the book.  What a compelling read!  It is evidence-based and great reading -- if you want to learn how companies track our habits, try to weave their products into our lives, and how we can understand and change our own habits for the better, it is all there. 

I confess that I didn't pick it up because I am not wild about the cover design, It is hard to grasp on quick glance and, well, I do not find it especially attractive -- but once I started reading the book, I realized it is the rare cover that actually provides a great compact summary of a book's core ideas.  And having struggled with the cover design process myself quite a few times now, I can tell you that it isn't easy getting something as emotionally compelling as Made to Stick or as beautiful as Enchantment.   In any event, The Power of Habit reminded me that the old saw "you can't judge a book by it's cover" is true! 

Chip Conley's Emotional Equations: A Leadership Self-help Book You Will Love (Even If You Hate Self-help Books)

Chip Conley is an astoundingly talented human-being, and for me, the very model of a CEO who built an organization that strikes a  balance between performance and humanity, or as IDEO's David Kelley puts it, between love and money. Shortly after graduating from the Stanford Business School, at the age of 26, he started a  25 year quest to build what has become one of America's most successful boutique hotel chains, Joie de Vivre.  It is now some 40 hotels strong -- and each property has its own personality from very first in the chain, the rock and roll themed Pheonix in San Francisco to the upscale and rugged beautiful Ventana Inn located in Big Sur, California.  

I've been lucky enough to get to know to Chip a bit over the past year, and have been struck repeatedly with his rare blend of emotionally sensitivity, business acumen, creativity, and generosity. Last week, we had Chip as a guest at the class on Scaling-Up Excellencee that Huggy Rao and I are teaching this term to business and engineering students at Stanford.  Chip's stories about the method that he uses to develop a distinct brand identity for each property grabbed everyone in the room: They start by picking the magazine that best represents the experience that they want to design for guests, and then develop five words to summarize the feelings that go with it, and then design to that image.  So, at the Phoenix, The Rolling Stone was the magazine they choose; for a more recent property (The Hotel Rex, I think), they choose The New Yorker.  As Chip explained, this simple early choice helps guides hundreds of decisions about everything from the target market for the hotel to the kinds of unexpected delights they offer guests. 

Chip blends this creative capitalism with impressive compassion and caring for his staff.  I was most impressed when he reported that, after September 11 2001 when the hotel business was under siege, especially his hotels (in part, because of the French name -- he got a lot hate mail), rather than shutting hotels and doing layoffs, Chip and his top team decided to take the financial hit themselves and to protect their people the best they could.  Indeed, while his top team top a huge cut, and Chip took a "salary sabbatical" for three years, not a single person was laid-off for lack of work.  Now that is having people's backs!  And much like when Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith defended their people during trying times, the resulting trust, loyalty, and psychologically safety has fueled the growth and spirit of the company.  Chip is still heavily involved in chain, opening new properties and he still has a financial stake, but he sold a majority share of the company a couple years back and is now focused on writing wonderful books and speaking (he is one of the best speakers I've ever seen, if you get a chance, go and see him).  Indeed, Chip started cranking out books when he was still CEO (a tough thing to do). with his most notable past book being Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo From Maslow.

The main reason I am writing this post is to point you to his new book, Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success. I am not sure I have ever seen a book quite like this, as I could not decide if it was business book or a self-help book when I started reading it. Ultimately, I realized it is both, and for Chip, dealing with and channelling his emotions is the key to his success as a leader and mentor and crucial to whether he travels through his days feeling or bad about himself. 

Chip makes a mighty strong case -- using stories, dabs of research, and the lovely simply equations that fill the book -- to argue there are general principles that we can apply to ourselves and others to be better leaders and humans.   Chip sees himself as "your emotional concierge" and the book as an "operating manual for being a super human being." He doesn't mean becoming superhuman, to him, that is a dangerous goal; rather, he means not allowing your emotions to get the best of you and instead finding ways  "your emotions can represent the best in you."

Chip then presents a series of simply emotional equations and associated stories and advice, things like

Despair = Suffering - meaning

Happiness = Wanting What You Have/Having What You Want

Regret = Disappointment + Responsibility (think about that one)

Authenticity = Self-Awareness x Courage

Wisdom = The Square Root of Experience

I know, it seems silly on the surface.  I frankly hesitated to read the book because I hate self-help books (being a psychology major for 10 years has made me cynical about them).  Despite that, I just couldn't resist once I started reading the thing.  The way that Chip frames these formulas, links them to the daily struggles every leader --  and every other person -- faces as they try to navigate through life, is done in such a compelling and helpful way that the result is the kind of read  (and a weird from of useful therapy) that simply doesn't exist in any book I know.  I am not the only one who is enjoying this book -- it is already on The New York Times bestseller list.

In the name of full disclosure, I did grow-up in California and I am a big fan of Chip's; but anyone who knows me will tell you I am the least "new age' guy you will ever meet.  So you might be as surprised as I was by how instructive and comforting it was to read Chip's delightful and quirky book.

P.S. If you want a fun and quite accurate summary of the book's main idea, check out this "book trailer."

"The No Asshole Rule in Our Zappos Museum"

The title of this post is from the header of an email I just got.  Here is the text:

Dear Bob,

Zappos is building a museum and we would like to include a signed framed copy of The no Asshole Rule in our “Library Exhibit.”  What is the best address for us to send you a copy of your book to sign?

Doonesbury? A museum?  What's next?  Who knows. Being the asshole guy has been wonderful and weird.

P.S. I am leaving out the author's name -- it wasn't Tony Hsieh or a senior executive.

Inside Apple: Adam Lashinsky Revealing and Well-Crafted Book

Last week, I opened up my copy of Adam Lashinsky's new book, Inside Apple.   It was about 8 at night, and I figured I would read the first chapter and do something else.  Well, I looked-up, and it was 1:30 in the morning, and the book was done.  Frankly, a business book hasn't grabbed me like that in a long-time.   Adam not only writes well, he provides the most complete picture you can find of how Apple actually is organized, how they divide-up the work, the pecking order, the mindset -- the kind of stuff that people like me who are interested in organizations want to know.

This is not an authorized book like Isaacson''s blockbuster Steve Jobs.  But Adam has been following Apple for many years as a reporter at Fortune, and before that, at the San Jose Mercury. He did many interviews with former Apple employees, and although it is unclear how much access that Apple allowed him (and knowing Apple, he likely isn't allowed to say), I can tell you that I've talked to several journalists over the years who have complained that he gets better access than the rest of them. He also does a great job of capturing the complexity and hypocrisy of the place.  I especially loved this paragraph late in the book, on page 175:

Apple is company of paradoxes. Its people and institutional bearing are off-the-charts-arrogant, yet at the same time, they are genuinely fearful of what would happen if their big bets go bad.  The creative side of the business that was dominated by Steve Jobs is made up of lifers or near lifers who value only an Apple way of doing things -- hardly the typical creative mind-set. The operations side of Apple runs like any company in America, but better, and is led by a cadre of ex-IBMers, the cultural antithesis of Apple.  Apple has an entrepreneurial flare yet keeps people in a tightly controlled box, following time-tested procedures. Its public image, at least seen through its advertising, is whimsical and fun, yet its internal demeanor is cheerless and nose-to-the grindstone.

Good stuff, huh? I was interested in Adam's opening arguments that Job's was a productive narcissist, which he linked to Michael Maccoby's Narcissistic Leaders and to The No Asshole Rule a bit too.  Many other things about the book were interesting, but three especially stood out for me, and reinforced my beliefs (and now some concerns) that I voiced in my post last year 5 Warning Signs to Watch for at Apple:

1.  Apple is nearly the exact opposite of the kind of organization hyped by people like Gary Hamel and even Peter Drucker.  It is centralized, secretive, fear-ridden, punitive, and not much fun for most people who work there.  But it works because the pieces of the "organizational design" fit together, or at least did fit together when Jobs was there, in an elegant way.  The secrecy is so severe that, when products are launched, even senior people are surprised by the final product because people are on a strictly "need to know" basis.  But this is offset with a system of roles and responsibilities -- and crucial to all of it-- is what Apple calls the DRI, the directly responsible individual, a centerpiece of the organization.  There is clear responsibility placed on individuals, not so much on groups and committees.  Although groups and some committees do exist, the DRI can always be found and is where attention is focused.  Which means that that it is clear where to go to provide guidance, to integrate their work with others, and who will be fired, blamed, and replaced -- and celebrated too. 

Essentially, and you can see this in the organization chart on one of the first pages of the book, Apple is designed so that all major (and many minor) decisions are made by a very small group of people, they are not influenced much by suppliers, customers, 99.9% of employees or anyone else; rather is what my friend John Lilly calls a "genius driven" organization.  So, with Jobs gone, the question on the table is if the brilliance of CEO Tim Cook and a few others like Jonathan Ive (head of design) and Scott Forstall (head of IOS software) can sustain the firm's dominance and creativity. These are mighty smart people and they have been slowly weaned from Jobs as he was so sick for so many years.  But the design of the organization places more pressure on senior executives doing the right things than any large company I know.

In contrast, other organizations have decentralized systems where numerous semi-autonomous businesses are responsible for their own profits and losses, and top executives are essentially managing a portfolio.  HP operated quite successfully this way for decades under Hewlett and Packard.  The had numerous divisions (I recall about 45 when I first got to Stanford in 1983), and it was run by what some insiders called the "mafia model:" if  your business was sufficiently profitable (around 10% net profit per year as the going rate as I recall), you simply paid that "protection money" to  corporate, and you could do whatever you wanted within reason.  If your numbers were lower, you would get "help," and if they didn't improve or if senior management lost faith in you, you were removed.  Certainly, this kind of structure places pressure on leaders to prune, merge, and start new businesses --and to deal with overlaps and conflicts between businesses -- but such a structure spreads the leadership chores -- and risk -- among multiple teams, each of which acts with great autonomy.  (Google is much more decentralized than Apple, for example, but is moving to become more centralized.  For example, when Larry Page took over as CEO, they had so many products done by so many different decentralized groups he went to Wikipedia to get a list of them all--and then he and his team started trimming them).

My point here, and this follows an old conceptual perspective called "contingency theory," is that other organizations that want to be like Apple --and that seems like so many now -- need to be especially careful about copying individual pieces, because the reason it works is that the multiple elements fit together. 

2.  I am very impressed with how thoughtful Apple's team is about allowing people to focus on what they are doing, and to not be distracted by so many of the other things that most organizations expect from their people. They don't believe in the concept of general managers.  They don't give groups or businesses P&L's... there is only one, that is for the whole company.  They focus on saying "no."   As Adam quotes Jobs, his "Focus is not saying yes. It is saying no to really great ideas."  This "elegance is refusal" philosophy is extended to strategy and organizational design as well.  There are simply a lot things that weigh on many managers and employees at other places that aren't present or are less present at Apple.  Managers aren't asked to be responsible for a local P&L, they know amazingly little about what is going on in other parts of the company, they aren't asked to go to as many meetings or be on as many committees and are instead expected to do what they do perfectly and as little else as possible. 

This focus on simplicity and reduction of load is also seen in the emphasis on keeping teams as small as possible. The tendency to make teams ever bigger is an awful disease, not so much because it costs more money, but because, as Harvard's J.Richard Hackman has shown, it slows teams and undermines their performance as members end-up spending more time dealing with coordination issues and coalitional battles and less time doing the work at hand.  Apple gets the importance of small teams at all levels (e.g., Adam reports that a 2 person team "wrote the code for converting Apple's Safari browser for the iPad, a massive undertaking”).  They also have an unusually small board of directors -- seven members -- for a company of that size.  

This extension of the elegance philosophy beyond their products has huge advantages as the "signal to noise" ratio appears to be quite impressive at all levels and in all functions -- people tend to get good information, the information they need (and no more), and aren't confused or distracted by other things.  At senior levels, this means they get the information they need and it means that, although there is discussion and debate at times, when a decision is made, there is less of the usual arguing or undermining.    And if there are failures in implementing, you will be forgiven if senior executives believe you acted intelligently enough and hard enough, but you will be shown the door very quickly if they believe you were dumb or lazy.

3.  Adam did a great job of describing the company with all its warts and negative side-effects.  I was struck by how Apple is a place that is driven by the pride of doing great work, that it was not about having fun.  That it is was also not about getting rich for most employees. Apple pays competitive salaries for Silicon Valley,  but not at the very top of the market like NetFllix.  And only a few employees who were in early made big fortunes from the stock.  In fact, Jobs hated talking about money.

 My personal reaction, and others no doubt have different motivations and preferences, is that it would be an awful place to work.  The extreme secrecy means there is extreme paranoia.  It means you often don't even know a lot of co-workers, let alone what they are working on -- and if you ask them, you can get in big trouble.  Fear is everywhere.  Apple seems to take pleasure in pushing around other companies -- competitors, suppliers, and those that just get in the way -- just because it can.  And, let's face it, while Jobs was one of the most effective assholes in history, he was still an asshole (Isaacson reported he went through over 70 nurses before finding 3 he liked).   I worry that the bully worship that has emerged in the wake of Jobs death has not only apparently been long institutionalized at Apple, it is now being imitated and gloried by people who lack Jobs' obsessive genius and who are not embedded in an a system that is designed to amplify the best qualities of a obsessive perfectionist and to dampen the worst.

Jobs said the journey is the reward, a nice sentiment, and I like the pride, thirst for excellence, and action orientation that Adam describes, but spending my days deep in fear, paranoia, and secrecy isn't for me. Life is too short.

In any case, if you can't get a job at Apple or don't want to, Inside Apple provides the best -- most complete and balanced -- coverage of how the place works, the elements you might want to copy, and those that you might avoid -- that Apple has apparently succeeded DESPITE rather BECAUSE they are used. 

"12 Things Good Bosses Believe" is the Most Popular Post at HBR in 2010

I got a note from Julia Kirby at HBR a few days back that my list of "12 Things Good Bosses Believe"   has been the most popular post at HBR.Org in 2010 -- a list based on ideas from Good Boss, Bad Boss. 

Here is Jimmy Guterman's list of the Top 10 posts at HBR in 2010:

1. 12 Things Good Bosses Believe
   Robert Sutton, author of Good Boss, Bad Boss, ponders what makes some bosses great.
2. Six Keys to Being Excellent at Anything
   Tony Schwartz of the Energy Project reports on what he's learned about top performance.
3. How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking
   Peter Bregman learns how to do one thing at a time.
4. Why I Returned My iPad
   Here, Bregman finds a novel way to treat a device that's "too good."
5. The Best Cover Letter I Ever Received
   Although David Silverman published this with us in 2009, it remained extremely timely this year.
6. How to Give Your Boss Feedback
   Amy Gallo reports on the best ways to help your boss and improve your working relationship.
7. You've Made a Mistake. Now What?
   We all screw up at work. Gallo explains what to do next.
8. Define Your Personal Leadership Brand
   Norm Smallwood of the RBL Group gives tips on how to convey your identity and distinctiveness as a leader.
9. Why Companies Should Insist that Employees Take Naps
   Tony Schwartz makes the case for naps as competitive advantage.
10. Six Social Media Trends for 2011
    David Armano of Edelman Digital ends the year by predicting our social media future.

I am pleased and also somewhat embarrassed because, well, I haven't quite finished the post yet! I promised to write detailed posts on all 12 ideas listed, but I only made it through the first 10. I will finish in the next couple weeks, or at least I hope to, as life keeps happening while I make other plans (as that lovely old saying goes). 

Meet the "I Hate People" People: Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon at Kepler's This Wednesday at 7:30

Jonathan and Marc don't hate all people, but they make a great case that there are all kinds of types in the world that drive us crazy and being prepared to deal with them is crucial.  I also especially relate to what they call the soloist, as although I like people, I can't only deal with them in small doses and when I have taken proper precautions, so I really resonate with this book.  If you want to meet Jonathan and Marc -- one of the must fun pair of authors you will ever meet -- they will be at Kepler's in Menlo Park at 7:30 on Wednesday. I will be introducing them, which should be good fun.  If you come to the event, you might want to ask Jonathan, now a respected and dignified adult, if the story that (as a teenager) he accidentally drove his father's Alfa Romeo into the swimming pool is true. This is purely a rumor, and when I asked Jonathan if it was true once, and I did not fully understand the answer.   I continue to hope it is true, as it is such a great story -- and increased more admiration for Jonathan. 

Also, if you go to the event and haven't yet bought the book, please buy it at Kepler's as everyone benefits when we support this local bookstore. I love Amazon, but you can't see Jonathan and Marc there in person, can't walk through the aisles and touch the book, and can't take your new book (just signed by these guys) outside and have an espresso or glass of wine at the lovely cafe right next door when you are online.

I look forward to seeing you there. Here is the scoop from the Kepler's website.

When in Doubt, Take It Out: Matthew May's Masterpiece "In Pursuit of Elegance" is Published

Matt May is a remarkably talented guy.  He is a master of the Toyota production system and co-authored the inspired book The Elegant Solution about the principles underlying Toyota's innovations.  Now, Matt has a new book just published this week, In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing.   I first read it several months ago when Matt asked me to write a blurb, and I was blown away by the compelling arguments that Matt made for removing things that are assumed to be essential, leaving things unsaid, unfinished, unexplained.  He bases the book on four simple useful and compelling elements of "elegance" (ideas that combine simplicity and the power to surprise): seduction, subtraction, symmetry, and sustainability.

The range and quality of examples that Matt uses to make his points are stunning.  For example, in Chapter 4, "Laws of Subtraction" he starts with the Michelangelo's famous statue of David, and then swerves among stories about In-N-Out Burger, Lance Armstrong, Midland bank, a French company known as FAVI, Not So Big Houses, and a few others to show the power of simplicity and surprise.  The thing I like about the book is that it a lovely example of taking a simple and powerful idea and, through compelling stories and examples (and principles too) showing how by applying to almost every corner of life, the quality of human experience and emotion can be enhanced, money can be saved, and fewer resources can be squandered.  As I said in my blurb, the first time I read it, my aim was to glance at it, and I ended-up reading it from start to finish. This morning, as I started reading it again, I am having trouble putting it down again because Matt does such a great job of providing a new way of looking at everyday things in life, and making them better. 

To me, that is the best thing that any book can accomplish -- to change the way we think about and travel through life, and to send us down new paths that help us see opportunities and make choices that are better for ourselves and others.

P.S. Also check out Matt's blog for the book.

Escape from Corporate America: The Book and the Quiz

Ever since I wrote The No Asshole Rule, I get a lot of requests to write endorsements, or “blurbs” as they call them, for the jackets of book. This is somewhat ironic as, of the four books I wrote, only The No Asshole Rule has no blurbs, yet it is has outsold all my other books combined. And having gone through the process getting endorsements multiple times, one of the weirdest things that happens is that my editors and literary agents always tell me “They don’t matter for sales, but you have to have them anyway.” So even the people who want these things think they are suspect.

Regardless of the effect on sales, I do enjoy being asked to write blurbs. I turn down most of the requests as I only endorse books that I like a lot. Of the half-dozen book or so I’ve endorsed in the past year, perhaps the best is Pamela Skillings’ brand new Escape from Corporate America. This lovely book blends tools to help you decide if you ready to make your escape, great advice about to how to implement it, and compelling stories about people who have made the escape.  I also love the cover. 

I think the book especially resonates with me because I seem to be surrounded with so many people who have made the escape.  My wife Marina did so after 25 years at her law firm and is wildly happy in her new job as CEO of the Northern California Girl Scouts. I also do a lot of teaching at the d.school with Debra Dunn and Michael Dearing, both of whom have made recent escapes – from HP and eBay in their cases. And Pam wrote this book --- her first book – because she made her own escape and it made her curious to learn more. In my blurb, I said it is the best career book I’ve read – and that is still how I feel about it.

Check out Pam’s blog as it is filled with information.  Also, as I learned from ARSE, everyone loves quizzes, so here is Pam’s quiz, which I found unusually useful

QUIZ: ARE YOU A CORPORATE CASUALTY?

From ESCAPE FROM CORPORATE AMERICA by Pamela Skillings

Do you really need this book? Are you just having a bad week or are you at the end of your rope?  Take this quiz to find out if you need to make an escape from Corporate America.

1. Rate your general job satisfaction:

a. I love what I do.

b. I have more good days than bad days.

c. It could be worse, I suppose.

d. I hate my job.

2. If you won or inherited a million dollars tomorrow, would you continue on the same career path?

a. Definitely.  I'd take a great vacation and buy a few toys, then get back to work.

b. Probably not.  With a financial cushion, I would likely take the time to explore my options.

c. Hell, no!  Are you crazy?

3. Which statement best expresses your feelings toward your job?

a. I enjoy what I do for the most part.

b. Sometimes I fantasize about quitting to do something else.

c. I am actively exploring other career options.

d. I only stay in my job for the paycheck. If money weren't an issue, I would leave.

4. What are your long-term career goals?

a. I am on a good career path, and my current job is a step along that path.

b. I feel a bit stuck and unsatisfied, but I'm not sure what I want to do instead.

c. The idea of staying on my current career path for the rest of my life gives me the cold sweats.

5. Are you pursuing your dream career?

a. Yes.

b. I'm not sure.

c. No.

6. Do you get the Sunday-night blues?

a. Not really.

b. Sometimes.

c. I get the every-night blues.

7. How do you feel at the end of an average workday?

a. Proud and happy.

b. Tired, but satisfied.

c. What was the point?

d. Miserable.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years?

a. In a bigger job at my current company or at a similar firm.

b. On a different career path within the corporate world.

c. I am actively exploring other career options.

d. I only stay in my job for the paycheck. If money weren't an issue, I would leave.

9. Do you feel energetic and positive at work?

a. Most of the time.

b. Occasionally, but not as much as I'd like.

c. Rarely or never.

10. Which of the following are among the positive aspects of your current job?  Check all that apply.

__ Interesting work.

__ Growth opportunities.

__ Great boss.

__ Pleasant co-workers.

__ Fair pay.

__ Good benefits.

__ Flexibility.

__ Fulfillment.

__ Pride in what I do.

__ A company that cares about me and/or treats me well.

11. Which of the following are among the negative aspects of your job?  Check all that apply.

__ I spend excessive amounts of time in meetings, documenting meetings, and scheduling follow-up meetings.

__ I can't remember the last time I felt truly excited about a work project.

__ I put in long hours mostly because of other people's ego trips.  This includes face time, cleaning up messes, or staying late because others screw up or delay decisions.

__ I need at least two levels of approval on any decision.

__ Knowledge and ability are less important than who I know and how well I can BS.

__ I'm not quite sure what my job accomplishes, aside from making money for shareholders and senior management.

__ I don't feel passionate about anything I do at work.  It feels like I'm putting in time for a paycheck.

__ I dread going to work most mornings and come home exhausted.

__ I don't see a future that I can get excited about.

__ I have been a victim of or a witness to bullying or blatantly unfair treatment.

Calculating Your Score:

* For questions 1-9, give yourself 3 points for every A answer, 2 points for every B answer, 1 point for every C answer, and 0 points for every D answer.

* For question 10, give yourself 1 point for every item you checked.

* For question 11, deduct 1 point for every item you checked. Deduct 2 points each for checking either of the last two items.

What Your Score Means:

28-37 You are ridiculously satisfied. Against all odds, you love your corporate job.  You might want to read on for a true appreciation of just how good you've got it.

17-27 You are on the fence.  Your corporate job is okay, but something is missing.  If your current career isn't your true calling, what is? This book can help you explore your options.

6-16  You are disgruntled.  You don't like your corporate job, but you're trying to make it work. Unfortunately, your feelings of frustration and rage may be starting to take a toll on your personal life.  Read on for some solutions.

Less than 5  You need an intervention. Stat.  Your corporate job is making you miserable.  You desperately need to read this book and figure out your escape plan.

I just took the quiz, and I scored 32. I better count my blessings. I complain about Stanford now and then and even tried to escape to UC Berkeley once. It was a most instructive failure, as I realized that the Stanford Engineering School was a much more flexible and open-minded place than the Haas Business School at Berkeley. I also learned to ignore my salary, and especially, to not use it as an indicator of my self-worth. I took a huge (about 35%) pay cut when I returned to Stanford (because business schools pay a lot more than engineering schools). I’ve always said that it was one of the best decisions I ever made and Pam’s book and quiz reinforces the point.  Also, in my exit interview, I told the Berkeley dean that one of the reasons that I was leaving the UC Berkeley was BECAUSE of the pay system. They had one of the most dysfunctional pay systems I have ever seen (it wasn't her fault, that is how the entire university operated), as it seemed to mostly reward people for going out to other schools and getting large offers -- which it often matched, or failing that, at least gave faculty big raises. As such, the smartest faculty, or at least those most motivated by money (or perhaps those who were massively underpaid) seemed to devote huge chunks of their time to looking for jobs in other places rather than devoting energy to helping their home institution. Stanford is sensitive to the market, but is much better about rewarding people for giving back to the institution and NOT rewarding people who are constantly trying to game the system with external offers. I think everyone -- including the students --win as a result.

Back to Pam's book -- I think it is going to a best-seller, at least it deserves to be one. I also think the timing is good as lots of people are being forced out of jobs and, even for those who aren't, things can be lot less fun as companies push to cut costs and salaries and to squeeze ever more of every employee.

P.S. If you buy the book and love it as much as I do, please write Pam a 5 star review on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. When a book is brand new, especially for a first-time author like Pam, those kinds of things really help.

Hemingway on Writing

I did a little online interview this morning with Jason Alba over at JibberJobber about the process of writing and publishing books.  It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes about the writing process, from Ernest Hemingway.

"The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it."

It stands the test of time well.

Sticky Book Titles

I was listening to a great show on the other day on Fresh Air, where Terry Gross interviewed Bob Sullivan, the author of Gotcha Capitalism. I started getting quite agitated by the interview, as Sullivan talked about all the ways that credit card companies, hotels, and especially, cell phone companies “get us” with hidden charges and related sleazy practices (listen to it here).

It also reminded me of the time that my wife accepted an offer that was being pushed by Verizon salespeople for text messaging that sounded like a great deal. She was assured by the salespeople that this deal was good for as long the contract held. But after accepting the offer, my wife went online and read the terms of the offer on their website, which said it was a short-term deal that would revert to very high texting charges after (as I recall) three months. When she called back to cancel the deal and explain why, they resisted doing so and also kept accusing her of getting the facts wrong (even though she was reading them the contract, they didn’t believe her). So I think that Mr. Sullivan is onto to something (Indeed, one of the things I loved about Tranquilo Bay, the lovely  little eco-resort we went to in Panama, is there were no hidden charges, it was all inclusive, including the drinks).

Mr. Sullivan not only gave a great interview, it got me thinking about how important book titles are to the success of a book. I love the title “Gotcha Capitalism,” as it captures the emotion so well. Perhaps I have a jaded view, but my two most successful books had titles that we decided on at the outset, and that we had to fight for to get past book marketing people. My co-author, Jeff Pfeffer, had a huge battle with the people from Harvard Business School Press about The Knowing-Doing Gap, the title that we used from the first day we started writing the book. They kept insisting that we call it “Louder Than Words.” And we almost rolled over (in fact, I have a framed copy of the Louder Than Words book jacket in my office). Then after Jeff talked to the CEO of another publishing company and he talked to Suzy Wetlaufer (then the deeply talented editor of the Harvard Business Review, now Suzy Welch, Jack’s wife), and both pressed Jeff to fight for the book title. And he fought hard, and won. 

And, as Guy Kawasaki has written, as much as I love working with the people at Harvard Business School Press (despite the occasional disagreement), I decided to walk away and go to another publisher when they didn’t want to call it The No Asshole Rule. At the time, I commented that the title would likely be good for book sales, but I understood completely why they didn’t want to have a book with that title. Indeed, as I told them at the time, if I was them, I wouldn’t want the title either because it would be bad for their very respectable brand. But I couldn’t imagine, and still can’t imagine, that anything else would have grabbed attention so well.

Of course, this is the kind of thing that Chip and Dan Heath write about in their great book Made to Stick.  Picking a “sticky” book title isn’t easy as you want to have one that describes what the book is about, that surprises the reader a little, that provokes vivid images, and that readers will pick-up to look at, and will remember. I thought of a few of my favorites:

Randy Komisar’s The Monk and the Riddle. A great title for this “anti-greed” book that appeared at the height of the dotcom boom.

Timothy Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek. I confess I haven’t read the book, but it sounds good to me!

Gordon MacKenzie’s Orbiting the Giant Hairball.  As I have said many times here, the best corporate creativity book ever written.

Harry Frankfurt’s On Bullshit. A title that clearly attracted attention, and without it, The No Asshole Rule would never have been published. Frankfurt paved the way for books with dirty titles that were written by professors from fancy universities (he is a retired Princeton philosopher).

Arianna Huffington’s  Pigs at the Trough. I never read it, but what a great title!

Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel. Great book and great title.

David McCullough’s The Path Between the Seas. On the building of the Panama Canal. One of the best books I have ever read on anything. An astounding tale of human weakness and strength, and the power of sheer will. Wonderfully researched, and as good a story about the best and the worst features of the American character as you can find. Also, a reminder that some of the greatest innovations in history have been funded and implemented by governments.  The pyramids are another example! And, yes, both entailed exploiting a lot of people.

I would love to hear some of your favorite titles as well.  And some of the stinkers too. One of the worst titles I've seen in recent years is The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Intelligent Design.  Somehow, everything about it seems wrong. It sounds like a parody, but is not.

P.S. As I said, I love the title of Gotcha Capitalism, but I am less enthusiastic about the cover design. Those colors a little bit too much for me, and also something about it undermines the seriousness of the subject.  On the other hand, if the goal was to design a cover that would stand-out, they succeeded.