This was posted on Bob Sutton’s blog. https://bobsutton.typepad.com He is a professor at Stanford University, his newest book is the No Asshole Rule, I have not read it yet but if it is up to the standard of his other book it should be good. Just substitute coaching for management. I found it both stimulating and though provoking.
- Sometimes the best management is no management at all — first do no harm!
- Indifference is as important as passion.
- In organizational life, you can have influence over others or you can have freedom from others, but you can't have both at the same time.
- Learning how to say smart things and give smart answers is important. Learning to listen to others and to ask smart questions is more important.
- You get what you expect from people. This is especially true when it comes to selfish behavior; self-interest is a learned social norm, not an inherent feature of human behavior.
- Getting a little power can turn you into an insensitive self-centered jerk.
- Avoid pompous jerks whenever possible. They not only can make you feel bad about yourself, chances are that you will eventually start acting like them.
- The best test of a person's character is how he or she treats those with less power.
- Err on the side of optimism and positive energy in all things.
- Work is an over-rated activity.