The Asshole Survival Guide: How to Deal with People Who Treat You Like Dirt

by Robert I. Sutton

Overview

If you're feeling stressed out, overtaxed, under-appreciated, bullied, or abused because you work with a jerk, learn how to avoid, outwit, and disarm assholes—today.
 
Equally useful and entertaining, The Asshole Survival Guide delivers a cogent and methodical game plan when you find yourself working with a jerk—whether in the office, on the field, in the classroom, or just in life.  
 
Sutton starts with diagnosis—what kind of asshole problem, exactly, are you dealing with? From there, he provides field-tested, evidence-based, and sometimes surprising strategies for dealing with the rude, impolite, irritating, unpleasant, or just plain incompetent—avoiding them, outwitting them, disarming them, sending them packing, and developing protective psychological armor. Sutton even teaches readers how to look inward to stifle their own inner jackass.   
 
Ultimately, this survival guide is about developing an outlook and personal plan that will help you preserve the sanity in your life, and will prevent all those perfectly good days from being ruined by some jerk.





 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781328695918
Publisher:	HMH Books
Publication date:	09/12/2017
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

ROBERT SUTTON is a Stanford University professor and author of six management books, including the New York Times bestsellers The No Asshole Rule and Good Boss, Bad Boss. He is an IDEO Fellow and cofounder of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and the Stanford Design Institute (known as the d.school). He lives in Menlo Park, California.
 

Table of Contents

1 Eight Thousand Emails 1

2 Asshole Assessment: How Bad Is the Problem? 14

3 Make a Clean Getaway 37

4 Asshole Avoidance Techniques: Reducing Your Exposure 67

5 Mind Tricks That Protect Your Soul 96

6 Fighting Back 123

7 Be Part of the Solution, Not the Problem 158

Your Stories and Ideas 185

Acknowledgments 186

Notes 190

Index 207

Editorial Reviews

05/15/2017
In this most-welcome sequel to Sutton’s bestselling The No Asshole Rule, the author turns from an organization-wide perspective to an individual one, outlining strategies for dealing with difficult people at work. Readers will shake their heads—both in horror and recognition—at Sutton’s real-life examples of egregious behavior. However, Sutton also shares true stories, provided by readers, of successful strategies for thwarting the bullies. The book’s thoughtful, well-ordered structure begins with the topic of determining how bad the problem is. Later, Sutton discusses how to graciously exit a bad workplace. If that’s not an option, then there are tricks for coping, such as the one shared by a West Point cadet who changed her perspective on her hazers’ behavior and came to think of it as ridiculous rather than hurtful. Numerous strategies are provided for decreasing exposure to jerks or mentally excusing oneself when this proves impossible. The final strategy Sutton shares is simply fighting back, while still weighing the consequences of doing so. At the conclusion, Sutton turns the mirror on his readers, urging them to recognize when they behave badly and to stop themselves from contributing to the workplace’s—and world’s—already too large population of assholes. Agent: Christy Fletcher, Fletcher & Company. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"This survival guide is here to help keep you from going insane. It’s full of science-driven tips and strategies on how to deal with nasty bosses, manipulative colleagues, or other general jerks in your life." — W Magazine

"People are jerks. And there’s plenty of evidence to prove it in the very blunt self-help book called “The A—hole Survival Guide,” a scholarly source that teaches fed-up readers how to deal with co-workers, strangers and just about anyone who sucks." —Moneyish

"Sutton offers a variety of techniques that people suffering the presence of difficult individuals at their work, in their sports teams or just in everyday life can employ to deal with them or fight back. . . This is a small book but it could play a big part in making us treat others better." —Forbes

"If everyone had paid attention to the Stanford business professor's best-selling 2007 management manifesto, "The No Asshole Rule," there would be no need for a follow-up. Yet here we are." —Esquire

The crowded genre of workplace bullying books features clever titles...the best of the authors in the category is Stanford Professor Robert Sutton, who published The No Asshole Rule a decade ago and returns now with a more fully developed plan of action." —The National Book Review

"Sutton’s breezy writing style, combined with the wide array of anecdotes and stories from people who’ve written him about their difficulties, makes for an entertaining read...consider that the physical book itself might be a solution to an a-hole at work. Much like the effect Sutton’s first book reportedly has had, simply leaving The Asshole Survival Guide prominently on your desk may send all the signal you need." —SmartUp

“In this most-welcome sequel to Sutton’s bestselling The No Asshole Rule, the author turns from an organization-wide perspective to an individual one, outlining strategies for dealing with difficult people at work.” —Publishers Weekly

“Bob Sutton is very wise and very funny, AND he can tell you exactly how to handle the unfortunate reality that into every life a few assholes must fall. THE ASSHOLE SURVIVAL GUIDE is destined to become your go-to resource whenever you find yourself dealing with people who would treat you poorly.” —Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of QUIET
 
“At last someone has provided clear steps for rejecting, deflecting, and deflating the jerks who blight our lives.  Better still, that someone is the great Bob Sutton, which ensures that the information is useful, evidence-based, and fun to read.” —Robert Cialdini, author of New York Times bestsellers INFLUENCE and PRE-SUASION

 “No matter what industry or profession you work in, you will always encounter people who are unpleasant, off-putting, or downright self-centered.  Thank goodness Bob Sutton has provided us with such a well-crafted guide for surviving these jerks.  It is mandatory reading for anyone who strives to endure, escape, fend-off, and bring them down.” —Chip Conley, founder and past CEO of Joie de Vivre hotels, advisor and former Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy at Airbnb, author of four books including the New York Times best seller Emotional Equations. 
 
 “With humor, understanding and comprehensive research – and an ah-ha moment on every page – this is a must-have for leaders and climbing stars alike, from the expert on the subject. Bravo!” —Marshall Goldsmith, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller TRIGGERS
 
“This is the guide you need for handling the worst people in your life—and making sure they don’t rub off on you.  If you’ve ever had a horrible boss, client, or colleague, this book is bursting with advice that’s often ingenious and always actionable.  And if your world has been free of jerks, consider this an insurance policy.” —Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of GIVE AND TAKE and ORIGINALS, and coauthor of OPTION B
 
 “Assholes are like the weather—everybody complains about them but nobody ever does anything about them. Until, that is, Robert Sutton’s Asshole Survival Guide. Sutton offers a wealth of helpful, and dare I say wise suggestions about how to identify and deal with the assholes in your organization, or at least minimize the damage they do to the well-being and productivity of others. (I’d also suggest bringing it along to family reunions and PTA meetings.)” —Geoff Nunberg, University of California at Berkeley, author of Ascent of the A-Word: Assholism, the First Sixty Years.
 
"One of the biggest impediments to achieving a great workplace is assholes. Their behavior creates a hostile work environment that leads to decreased engagement, productivity and employee loyalty. Bob Sutton has written a fantastic book that explains the severity of the problem and provides useful strategies for dealing with it.” —Paul Purcell, Chairman and former long-time CEO of Baird, ranked fourth on Fortune’s Top 100 Companies to Work For and renowned for its long-time “no assholes” policy.
 
"Reading the Asshole Survival Guide made me wistful. If only Bob Sutton's book had been available to help me deal with the full complement of 1st-class assholes I've encountered in my 50-year professional life. No names shall be mentioned." —Tom Peters, co-author of the bestseller IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE
 
"First, The No Asshole Rule alerted us to the problem. Now, The Asshole Survival Guide offers the solution. This book is a contemporary classic—a shrewd and spirited guide to reducing our exposure and protecting ourselves from the jerks, bullies, tyrants, and trolls who seek to dispirit and demean. Now more than ever, with civility and decency under attack, we desperately need this antidote to the a-holes in our midst.” —Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of To Sell is Human and Drive
 
"As much as we try to avoid assholes, inevitably they appear in our lives. Bob Sutton gives us a menu of clear, thoughtful, and practical solutions for surviving and thriving in those painful situations. With cutting-edge research and real-life examples that are thought-provoking and often hilarious, The Asshole Survival Guide is an indispensable resource.” —Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author of THE HAPPINESS PROJECT and BETTER THAN BEFORE
 
"It's hard to know how to react to a jerk, so The Asshole Survival Guide is a Godsend. Obnoxious behavior is a double whammy. First, you feel mad at the other person. Next, you feel mad at yourself for your response / lack of response. It's being mad at yourself that is both hard to be aware of, and is most debilitating. With this brilliant and funny book, Bob Sutton saves you from fear, loathing, and self-loathing!" —Kim Scott, bestselling author of the New York Times bestseller, Radical Candor, cofounder of Candor, Inc, former executive at Google and Apple

From the Publisher

10/01/2017
In this follow-up to The No Asshole Rule, Sutton devotes himself to questions left unanswered by that book and presents strategies for escaping from, enduring, and forcing out bullies, backstabbers, and jerks. The tips are shaped by scholarly research on demeaning and disrespectful people and include the art form of "ducking," the use of mind tricks, a focus on the funny, and fighting back. In the final analysis, the author urges readers to be part of the solution, not the problem, and illustrates ways to bring out the best and stifle the worst in people. VERDICT Exemplary advice for dealing with difficult people in the workplace and in general.

Library Journal

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