The No-Asshole Rule
That's the name of the new book by Stanford engineering professor Robert Sutton. Guy Kawasaki blogs about it today, describing Sutton's "Starbucks Test" for spotting jerks:
It goes like this: If you hear someone at Starbucks order a “decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n’-Low and one NutraSweet,” you’re in the presence of an asshole. It’s unlikely that this petty combination is necessary -- the person ordering is trying to flex her power because she’s an asshole.Security expert Gavin De Becker dispenses similar -- if considerably less lighthearted -- advice in his book Gift of Fear: Survival Signs that Protect Us from Violence.
Whether you're listening to an engineer or a security consultant talk about those who creep us out, you'll notice a recurring theme: Jerks are not hard to spot. In fact, they're glaringly obvious. The twist is that we are socially conditioned to "make nice." We either ignore assholes (the typical male response) or somehow think we are being "overly sensitive" about their jerkiness (a typical female reaction).
Creeps in the workplace are bad news for your career; if you're an entrepreneur or business owner, it's even worse. One creep client, partner, or subcontractor is enough to sink your whole business -- even take your personal life down the drain as well. (De Becker has a sobering story of a travel agency owner and his employee-from-hell.)
So...if someone you've recently met, or are considering doing business with, makes you feel sick to your stomach, or sets the hairs on your neck on end, there's a reason. Chances are that he or she is on a course to violate your project, your bank account, your sanity, or you.
While Sutton's book considers a range of assholes (from the harmless to the dangerous) and proposes a range of ways to deal with them, I have to admit I favor the De Becker approach to dealing with them: Don't apologize, don't explain, don't engage, and don't fight. Just....leave. De Becker believes that many creeps and jerks are encouraged by engagement -- even what you or I would think of as a very unpleasant, negative response somehow energizes them.
Life is too short to spend it dealing with assholes. Unfortunately, a poll on Kawasaki's blog found that 45 percent of his readers report that they work for bosses who are assholes.
Karen, this is a spot-on article. As an independent filmmaker and screenwriter who owns her own business, I run into assholes often. I also notice many are motivated by envy. Deep inside, these people loathe themselves on a level you or I who adore ourselves can't even fathom in nightmares. To mask it, they assume an exaggerated and always counterfeit layer of arrogance. Arrogance combined with self-loathing is deadly enough to encounter on its own; but when an individual afflicted by this combination also starts to feel envy towards you, watch out.
ReplyDeleteI attend New York University and recently met two such people who work as a tag team in the department of my major. When both learned I had a feature film deal, each emerged from inside their little spider holes to cause trouble for me. One is an adjunct professor and the other is a technical assistant who signs out equipment to students. Both men feel they have power over me.
I have a saying, and it's usually true: the smaller the cock, the bigger the prick. This is also true in women, but less so.