The No Jerk Rule

The Baltimore Ravens released Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas last week after he hit a teammate at practice and refused to follow team rules. Ravens brass wanted him gone.

The Cleveland Indians traded away one of their best pitchers, Mike Clevinger, after he lied about breaking Covid-19 protocols, then taking a plane ride home with his teammates, potentially exposing them to the virus. His teammates turned on him, and some threatened to opt-out of the season if Clevinger was allowed to return.

Both the Indians and Ravens know they could never reach a championship level having "a bad locker room." Whether in the sports or the business world, the organization must come first.

No one knows this better than Robert I. Sutton, who in 2007 wrote a best-selling book titled “The No Asshole Rule.” Sutton is a Stanford professor who first wrote a popular essay for the Harvard Business Review about having "no a--holes" on your team and turned his paper into a Quill Award-winning book.

Sutton listed 12 behaviors of a--holes and acknowledged that there was a difference between a temporary a--hole who might be having a bad day and a certified a--hole, who behaves poorly regardless of the time of day. The traits are:

1. Insults to others

2. Violation of personal space

3. Unsolicited touching

4. Threats

5. Constant sarcasm

6. Flames

7. Humiliations

8. Shaming

9. Interruption

10. Backbiting

11. Glaring

12. Snubbing

Sutton believed in eliminating a--holes and used Bennett Tepper's research to frame his argument. According to Tepper, when there is one "a--hole" in the workforce, production suffers, and the ripple effect of their behavior causes more problems. Tepper equates being an a--hole to someone on a boat who ignores the wake sign, going as fast as he wants, thus causing problems to those left behind. Only after the damage caused can the real impact be felt.

We all love talent. But often, some of the most talented people can be a--holes. We make excuses for their poor behavior, we tolerate their ways for the betterment of the team; yet, in reality, we are only hurting the team. As the saying goes, “One bad apple can spoil the entire bunch.”

The Ravens and the Indians made it clear they agree with Sutton. It might help if we did the same.

 Please forward and share this email with your friends and family.