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The No Asshole Rule

Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
by Robert I. Sutton
Have you heard about the niceness campaign that's steadily
overtaking corporate America? Borrowing its name from a
bestselling book of the same title, this campaign is brazenly
referred to as the "No Asshole Rule." And it is already practiced by
many of our leading employers including Google and Southwest Airlines
with more and more jumping on the bandwagon every day.
Dr. Robert Sutton, an organizational psychologist who teaches at Stanford, first
introduced the No Asshole rule in a 2005 article for the Harvard Business Review.
Upon publishing the article, Sutton was inundated with e-mails from those who
agreed with his assessment of the overwhelmingly negative impact of jerks in the
workplace, and urging him to write a full-length book with his prescriptions for
dealing with them. Naturally, Sutton took them up on the offer.
Why did Sutton choose such a provocative title for his HBR article, and later for
his book? For him, it was a no brainer. Sutton wasn't interested in sugar coating
the problem with polite euphemisms. In his opinion, none of the other potential
synonyms including bully, jerk or tyrant captured the pain and anger these
nasty men and women provoke in others. They're assholes, plain and simple.
Language issues aside, Sutton's book offers a mix of good news and bad news.
The bad news is that workplace abuse is widespread across America, and the
human and financial toll is high (Sutton has developed a "TCA" formula Total
Cost Asshole in an effort to better quantify the problem). The good news is that
leaders can take steps to build workplaces where demeaning behavior just isn't
tolerated, and nasty people are immediately shown the door. Let's find out how.
Problem Definition
Who deserves to be branded an "asshole"? Let's face it, writes Sutton, we all
have the potential to act like assholes under the wrong conditions. And many of
us use the term indiscriminately, applying it to anyone who annoys us, gets in our
way, or happens to be enjoying greater career success than us. But a more
precise definition is necessary if you want to actually implement the No Asshole
Rule in your workplace. We need to distinguish between those colleagues and
customers we simply don't like, from those who actually deserve the label. It can
help us separate out people who are simply having a bad day ("temporary
assholes"), from persistently nasty and destructive jerks ("certified assholes").
Using Sutton's definition, in order to qualify as a certified asshole, a person needs
to display a persistent pattern, with a history of episodes that end with one "target"
after another feeling belittled, put down, humiliated, disrespected, oppressed, deenergized, and/or generally feeling worse about themselves.
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Sutton stresses that it's also important to tightly define the term asshole because
he doesn't want his book to be misinterpreted as an argument for recruiting and
breeding spineless wimps. Sutton's focus is squarely on screening, reforming, or
getting rid of people who demean and damage others. He's not opposed to
conflict in the workplace, or even a little yelling and screaming now and again.
Organizations that are too rigid about clamping down on all conflict tend to stifle
creativity, and become exceptionally dreary places to work. Sutton is a firm
supporter of "constructive confrontation," focused squarely on ideas and issues. If
those confrontations lead to some hurt feelings, well, so be it. That's different.
And so, when Sutton talks about asshole behaviors, he's speaking of the personal
insults, the status slaps, and the attempts to treat co-workers as if they are
invisible. These are the means that assholes use to do their dirty work.
How Big Is the Problem?
Although most scholarly studies would tend to shy away from using the a-hole
term, Sutton points his readers to a pile of research on the prevalence of
workplace bullying, interpersonal aggression and general incivility. For example, a
2002 study focusing on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs found that 36% of
those surveyed reported "persistent hostility" from at least one co-worker or
supervisor. A separate 1997 study of nurses, published in the Journal of
Professional Nursing, found that 90% reported being victims of verbal abuse by
physicians over the course of the previous year, with the average respondent
citing six different incidents of either abusive anger, being deliberately ignored, or
being treated in a condescending fashion. These behaviors are rampant!
The human damage done by these kinds of behaviors is well documented;
especially the harm that superiors do to their subordinates. Many studies have
found that employees with abusive supervisors quit their jobs at accelerated rates.
That's only common sense. And typically those who stay feel less committed to
their employers, and suffer from heightened anxiety and depression. This, of
course, manifests itself in lower productivity, and total employee burnout or
even workplace violence in some extreme cases.
Reasoning that companies might be more willing to take action on this serious
issue if they're faced with cold hard facts and figures, Sutton developed a metric
called "Total Cost of Assholes" or TCA. Sutton provides a laundry list of
consequences that are often associated with having too many assholes around
the organization. These consequences include everything from time spent
recruiting and training the replacements for employees who've been victimized, to
the legal costs associated with defending against lawsuits.
To develop a rough estimate of your company's TCA, you would review Sutton's
list of possible costs, and then attach your best monetary estimate to each. An
exercise like this can really open management's eyes to the extensive damage
that jerks do to the company. Sutton reveals that managers at more than one U.S.
company, having applied his TCA test, found that the extra cost of having just one
asshole on staff can exceed $100,000 annually. That's a lot of dough.
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Why Assholes Fool Themselves

All of this research raises a difficult question: if the personal and organizational
costs are so high, why do so many people act like assholes, and believe it is
generally effective to do so, even though there is so much evidence that it is a
downright stupid way to act? Sutton offers three possible explanations. His first
hunch is that, although many jerks are able to succeed in spite of (rather than
because of) their vile ways, they erroneously conclude that their nastiness is
somehow crucial to their career success. As a great body of psychological
research shows, most people tend to look for and remember facts that confirm
their biases, and avoid those that contradict their firmly held beliefs. So if
someone genuinely believes that being an asshole helps them at work, then
chances are they will conveniently forget about all those times when it hurt them.
The second blind spot arises because many people confuse the tactics that
helped them gain power, with the ones that are best suited for leading a team or
company. It's true that in some places with highly competitive cultures, being
intimidating or putting others down can help people gain power. But the rub is that
the overall effectiveness of the team, or the organization, depends on everyone
working together. So when leaders demean their underlings, they are unable to
gain the trust they need to fuel top performance. Which means their leadership
position may be in jeopardy unless they change their stripes.
Thirdly, Sutton hypothesizes that too many assholes are simply unaware of the
negative impact they're having on those around them because their victims are
too good at invoking defensive mechanisms to protect themselves. For example,
an experienced victim will learn to avoid his or her oppressor's wrath by reporting
only good news and remaining silent about, or even hiding, bad news. So the
oppressor manages to travel through life (at least for a period of time, until it all
comes crumbling down), believing that they are inspiring effective action when, in
fact, they are not getting the whole story. Eventually, they get a wake-up call.
Implementing the "No A-Hole" Rule
Recognizing the Total Cost of Assholes is way too high to be ignored or tolerated,
how can you go about implementing a No A-Hole Rule in your office?
When looking at those companies that enforce the no-asshole rule most
vehemently and effectively, an employee's performance, and his treatment of
others, aren't seen as two separate things. Within the walls of these leading firms,
a phrase like "talented jerk" becomes an oxymoron. Jerks are dealt with
immediately, says Sutton; even the most talented ones. They're immediately
asked to apologize, reflect on their nastiness, ask for forgiveness, and to change
their ways, now!
"Executives who want to build a civilized workplace can't just take haphazard
action against one asshole at a time," writes Sutton. Instead, they must invoke a
set of six integrated practices to implement a No A-Hole Rule. These are:

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1. Publicize the rule within your company. By way of example, Sutton points to
the accounting firm Plante & Moran, a company that's been on Fortune
magazine's "100 Best Places to Work" list for nine years in a row. Orientation
materials and other internal publications clearly state that Plante & Moran is a
"jerk-free" workplace and "the staff will abide by the Golden Rule."
2. Only adopt the Rule if you're prepared to act on it. Talking about the Rule
is just the first step, says Sutton. The real test happens when someone acts
like a jerk, and an employee brings it to your attention. People may not feel
comfortable blowing the whistle on an offender unless they have reason to
believe you'll take them seriously. Moreover, if an employee does bring a
problem to you, and you stick your head in the sand, chances are that word of
your inaction will leak out. Then you'll be seen as hypocritical for having a "No
A-Hole Rule," but only selectively enforcing it. So don't adopt the Rule unless
you're prepared to impose significant penalties on anyone who violates it.
Similarly, you need to weave the Rule into your hiring policies. Consider how
the top law firm Perkins Coie which also earned a spot on Fortune's 100
Best Places to Work applies the Rule during job interviews. Sutton explains
that the Seattle-based firm was going through a rough patch, and partners Bob
Giles and Mike Reynvaan were very tempted to hire a rainmaker from another
firm. But they realized that doing so would violate the Rule. As they put it: "We
looked at each other and said, 'What a jerk.' Only we didn't use that word."
3. Teach people how to fight. As mentioned earlier, the No A-Hole Rule doesn't
mean turning your organization into a haven for conflict-averse wimps. Sutton
realizes that employees also need to know when, and how, to fight. Take Intel
for example. The world's largest semiconductor manufacturer gives all of its
employees training in the "constructive confrontation" that is a hallmark of the
company's culture. Through role-playing exercises, company leaders and
corporate trainers try to encourage new hires to "argue as if they are right, and
to listen as if they are wrong." The company's motto is "disagree and then
commit," because second-guessing and complaining after a decision is made
accomplishes nothing. It only saps efforts and energy.
4. Apply the rule to suppliers and clients too. Organizations that are serious
about enforcing the No A-Hole Rule apply it not just to employees, but also to
suppliers, clients, partners, and everyone else who might be encountered at
work. They do so because their valuable employees simply don't deserve the
abuse, regardless of where it is coming from. The late Joe Gold the founder
of Gold's Gym was a pioneer in this regard. Sutton tells the story of how
Gold's Gym, which now has more than 550 locations worldwide, applied an
early variation of the No A-Hole Rule to his customers. When explaining the
Rule to his staff, Gold didn't mince words: "To keep it simple you run your gym
like you run your house. Keep it clean, and above all, no jerks allowed.
Members pay on time, and if they give you any crap, throw them out."
5. Manage the little moments. "Putting the right practices and policies in place
is useless if they don't set the stage for civilized conversations and
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interactions," writes Sutton. "People must treat the person in front of them,
right now, in the right way, and they must feel safe to point out when their
peers and superiors blow it." The incalculable impact of focusing on what
Sutton refers to as "the little moments" has been documented in many case
studies. For example, several years ago, the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs set out to reduce the bullying of employees, psychological abuse, and
aggression at several different sites, with more than 7,000 people in total. At
each site, a joint action team of managers and union members was
encouraged to develop a customized intervention process. At one site in
particular, the action team focused specifically on eliminating seemingly small
slights such as eye rolling, glaring, and interruptions the sorts of things that
tend to escalate into bigger problems over time. As it turned out, this particular
V.A. location experienced the most improvement. Results included a reduction
in sick leave (saving taxpayers money), fewer human resources complaints
from employees, and shorter waiting times for the veterans.
6. Being a jerk is contagious. According to Sutton, the single most important
principle for building a workplace free of jerks and to avoid acting like one
yourself is to view being a jerk as a kind of contagious disease. Once
disdain, anger, and contempt are ignited, they spread like wildfire. Researcher
Elaine Hatfield calls this tendency "emotional contagion." Her research shows
that when people display contempt for others, casual spectators will start to
respond in much the same way, creating a vicious circle that can turn everyone
in the vicinity into a mean-spirited monster. Other social experiments cited by
Sutton show that when even friendly, normally compassionate people join a
group with a leader who is "the classic bully type," they are "temporarily
transformed into carbon copies of the alpha dog." Just being around people
who look angry can make you feel angry.
Treating nastiness as if it were a contagious disease also suggests some
useful self-management techniques. Consider some wise advice that Sutton
heard from the late Bill Lazier, a former colleague of his at Stanford. "When
you get a job offer or an invitation to join a team," said Lazier to Sutton, "be
sure to take a close look at the people you will work with, successful or not. If
your future potential colleagues are self-centered, nasty, narrow minded, or
unethical ... the odds are that you will turn into a jerk as well."
When Assholes Reign Supreme
If, unfortunately, your current place of work is in desperate need of a No A-Hole
Rule, but you are not in a position of sufficient power and authority to implement
one, Sutton offers some tips and tricks for dealing with the situation until you can
either seize a management job and do something about it ... or get the heck out.
It's all about reframing how you see things. Psychologists have found that if you
can't escape a source of stress, changing your mind-set about what is happening
to you can help reduce the damage. Some useful tricks include avoiding selfblame, limiting your exposure to the asshole(s) in question, hoping for the best but
expecting the worst, and Sutton's own personal favorite, developing emotional
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detachment. Teaching yourself not to give a damn isn't the kind of advice you'll
read in most business books, but it can help you to make the best of a lousy
situation at least on a temporary basis. But don't let yourself be to too good at
lowering your expectations, warns Sutton. These tricks are meant to be a
temporary solution until you can escape the abusive situation entirely.
Conclusion
Long before the No Asshole Rule hit the bestseller list, being a creep in the
workplace could still get you fired. We saw it happen to Terrell Owens, who,
despite being arguably the best wide receiver in the National Football League,
ultimately proved to be a net liability to his coaches and teammates in
Philadelphia. We also saw it happen to Donald Rumsfeld, who appears to have
been canned by President Bush not so much for his handling of the War on
Terror, but rather for his astonishingly bad attitude and sneering intransigence.
Clearly, then, workplace assholes are not a new phenomenon, and Robert Sutton
is not the first to comment on the damage they can cause. Nevertheless,
something about Sutton's message has hit a nerve, and finally, corporations
across America large and small are taking systematic action. At last the tide
is turning. Perhaps one day soon, you may find yourself looking around your
office, and suddenly realizing that you're surrounded by a bunch of easy-going,
decent human beings, it will dawn on you that your co-workers are actually
starting to listen and co-operate with one another. And, believe it or not, they're
even keeping the office kitchen clean. At that fateful moment, you'll have only one
question to ask yourself: "Am I part of the problem ... or part of the solution?"

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