I just finished reading The No Asshole Rule by Robert Sutton, and I was impressed. It is among the top ten business books I have ever read, and the only topic it covers is assholes. As funny as that sounds, it’s no laughing matter. It’s a dilemma faced by a number of people in life is that of dealing with assholes.
Dealing with assholes is not something anybody likes to do, but it’s something we all have to do. Much to my shame, I’m guilty of being one of those asshole with whom people have been forced to deal. It not only opened my eyes to how big an asshole I had been, but also taught me how to deal with other assholes when I face them. I highly recommend this book for all readers, be they assholes ready to realize the error of their ways or be they the victims or innocent bystanders of asshole attacks.
The one thing that struck me the most in the text was the phenomenon that Bob Sutton termed “asshole poisoning.” This is the contagion of asshole-ness, where exposure to assholes causes otherwise nice people to become assholes themselves. The reason this struck me so is because the book not only introduces asshole poisoning, but also goes over how to avoid it. That is especially important for anybody trying not to turn into what they despise.
All in all, I think that everybody should read The No Asshole Rule, whether they’re surrounded by assholes or not (because the people surrounding you might not be the problem). I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.
