The Asshole Survival Guide

From the bestselling expert—an entertaining and evidence-based guide to dealing with horrible people.

Being around assholes, whether at work or elsewhere, can damage performance and affect wellbeing. Having one asshole in a team has been shown to reduce performance by 30 to 40 percent, and research shows that rudeness spreads like a common cold. In The Asshole Survival Guide, Stanford professor Robert Sutton offers practical advice on identifying and tackling any kind of asshole, based on research into groups from uncivil civil servants to French bus drivers, and 8,000 emails that he has received on asshole behaviour.

With expertise and humour, he provides a cogent and methodical game-plan to fight back. First, he sets out the asshole audit, to find out what kind of asshole needs dealing with, and asshole detection strategies. Then he reveals field-tested, sometimes surprising techniques, from asshole avoidance and asshole taxes, to mind-tricks and the art of love bombing. Finally, he explains the dangers of asshole blindness—when the problem might be yours truly.