Jerks at Work

Back in 2004, I wrote a little article on bully managers for stickyminds.com.

People are still leaving comments on the article, describing their nightmare bosses. And every month or so, I receive email from someone on the receiving end of verbal abuse, public humiliation, micromanagement, demeaning behavior, or physical threats in the workplace.

So I was glad to hear that Bob Sutton was writing a book on abusive people in the workplace. Bob sent me a copy his new book, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't.

Bob spells out the cost of tolerating assholes in the workplace, and dispells the myth that high-performing assholes are worth putting up with. There's data that shows that when the asshole leaves, everyone does better, and overall results improve.

I think life is too short and I don't work with assholes anymore. And sometimes people can't leave a job for a variety of reasons. Bob offers some strategies for surviving assholes at work.

If you are working with an asshole, read my article, read The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn'tand check out The Workplace Bullying Institute.

If you are in management and are tolerating a bully or asshole on your staff, do a little calculation on the costs generated by the bully--coaching, turnover, lost productivity for others, loss of collaboration, etc. I suspect you'll find that your abrasive star is costing the company much much more than his or her salary.