Bob Sutton

Organizational psychologist @stanford and NYT bestselling author. 8 books including The No Asshole Rule, Scaling Up Excellence, and The Friction Project.

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

"The Friction Project" has been my focus for 8 years

Key lesson from my book with Huggy Rao:

The best leaders are TRUSTEES OF OTHERS TIME, friction fixers with the will and skill to make the right things easier and the wrong things harder for others
https://t.co/5LDZdFFB3X

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@jodiecongirl @HarvardBiz I liked brevity

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

Yes!. The idea that a good boss serves as a human shield, protecting their people from idiocy and intrusions from all directions, has been a cornerstone of organizational theory for 100+ years

I wrote my take on it in @HarvardBiz about 15 years ago

https://t.co/e8YINa9IJO

[Morgan @simplymorgn]

a good middle manager looks like a guy who just drinks coffee and forwards emails, but his actual job is secretly absorbing insane executive requests so the team can just do their work

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@01EMB @HarvardBiz Hah. As one manager I know told his team, when shit rains down from on high, it is my job to use and be the umbrella that protects you from it. And it is your job to make sure I need to open that umbrella less rather than more often.

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@simplymorgn Excellent

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@LaszloBock A lack of compassion makes it worse

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

Alas, as Paul demonstrates, AI is a powerful tool for the few to heap additional burdens on the many. An efficient way for individuals to weaponize friction and undermine productivity, well-being, and useful collaboration throughout organizations and networks.

[Paul Graham @paulg]

Another annoying thing about getting emails people have used AIs to write for them is that they're usually longer than they'd have written by themselves. Paragraphs and paragraphs of plausible-sounding text. Ugh.

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@jameygannon Who knows the “real” data. But one confound is there is a California thing where you pretend to be chill and not working hard. But are working like crazy when no one is watching. My experience with New York is the busyness, rushing, and complaining is more “performative.”Culture!

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@katiekirsch Impressive!I am nursing a meniscus tear myself and done a lot of research. A public researcher from Sweden pointed me to a controlled longitudinal study that suggests no benefit from surgery. So be careful of surgeons who recommend it. ACL is different! https://t.co/sODlc4fzX6

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@heyshrutimishra Biotech in particular is full of well-educated founders. List goes on and on, including @genentech

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@heyshrutimishra Come on that is just bullshit
Hewlett and Packard
Larry Page and Serge Brin
Reid Hoffman
Mark Zuckerberg (not a fan but he is smart)
Reed Hastings
Kevin Systrom and Mark Krieger (Instagram)
Ed Catmull (Pixar, PhD computer science)
Gordon Moore (Intel, Phd from Cal)
I could go on

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@muheediva01 We have a “no map” to go with our “road map.” A list of things we are not going to do in the medium term and things we will never do. I heard that from a client at a speaking gig. I best not name the famous company but I like the language and the practice.

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@jamescham @mattbeane Kahneman’s last book, with @CassSunstein @SibOliv argued noise was a bigger impediment to decision-making, and added more destructive friction, than bias. Loved their definition of noise as wading through “a random scatter of ideas.” AI slop, or botshit, has made it even worse.

[Eric Ries @ericries]

Coming up in two weeks.
Commonwealth Club of California · San Francisco · Monday June 22.
With Scott Cook, founder of Intuit.
RSVP → https://t.co/NbkdQfGxNY

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@km There is evidence for this, including an old study by the remarkable and very kind @TeresaAmabile titled “Brilliant But Cruel.” https://t.co/sGNsoGhBEL

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@DanielleMorrill More true! More noise and more pressure for speed!

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@provisionalidea @avilewis Excellent. As you say, roles have always changed, dissapeared, and been created as new technologies change work. I despise the cruel manner that many companies are doing layoffs. But there is difference between what you do and how you do it

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

Wonderful. I would add when I decline to post about your cause or don’t reply, please don’t ask again and again or negotiate

Or automate the nagging with AI

As the saying goes, I don’t know the path to success but do know that trying to please everyone is the path to failure

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@AdamMGrant Good for you Adam.

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@ericries Hot damn. You earned it. Great book, you are such a compelling spokesperson for your cause, and did a textbook launch. And you are a mensch.

[Bob Sutton @work_matters]

@jamescham Yes!