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

by Robert I. Sutton Narrated by Robert I. Sutton

Overview

The New York Times bestselling author of The No Asshole Rule reads his guide on how to preserve civility, sanity, and success when facing a business world full of difficult people.

Since The No Asshole Rule became a national bestseller a decade ago, Robert Sutton has been asked, in a thousand different ways, the best way to deal with an asshole. This new guide presents Sutton's signature prescriptive advice for everyone who is feeling oppressed, demeaned, or disrespected by people who treat them badly.

Drawing on a trove of real-life stories from people dealing with implacable jerks in every kind of setting, Sutton delivers a highly effective, methodical game plan, starting with a diagnosis: Exactly what kind of asshole are you dealing with? From there, Sutton provides thoughtful, field-tested strategies aimed at specific asshole-deflecting goals-avoiding them, outwitting them, disarming them, and countering their negative influence. He even teaches you how to look inward to stifle your own jackass.

Equally useful and entertaining, The Asshole Survival Guide helps you develop a robust new outlook that can preserve the sanity of your workplace and personal life, and stop all those perfectly good days from being ruined by some jerk.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

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.)

From the Publisher

"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 —

Library Journal

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.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170653553
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	09/12/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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