The No Asshole Rule

AuthorRobert I. Sutton
GenreBusiness
PublisherBusiness Plus
Publication date
February 22, 2007
Pages224
ISBN978-0-446-52656-2
OCLC154698708
650.1/3 22
LC ClassHD58.7 .S935 2007

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't is a book by Stanford professor Robert I. Sutton. He initially wrote an essay[1] for the Harvard Business Review, published in the breakthrough ideas for 2004. Following the essay, he received more than one thousand emails and testimonies. Among other reasons disclosed in another article[2] published at the Harvard Business Review, these letters led him to write the book, sell more than 115,000 copies, and win the Quill Award for best business book in 2007.[3][4][5]

The theme of this book is that workplace bullying worsens morale and productivity. To screen out the toxic staff, it suggests the "no asshole rule". The author insists upon use of the word asshole since other words such as bully or jerk "do not convey the same degree of awfulness".[6] In terms of using the word in the book's title, he said "There's an emotional reaction to a dirty title. You have a choice between being offensive and being ignored."[7]

  1. ^ Sutton, Robert (2004-02-01). "More Trouble Than They're Worth (in Breakthrough Ideas for 2004)". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  2. ^ Sutton, Robert (2007-03-17). "Why I Wrote The No Asshole Rule". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
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