The No-Asshole Rule

I came across this article about a rule.It's supposed to be about corporate management.It's called 'The No Asshole Rule'.Its theme is that bullying behaviour in the workplace worsens morale and productivity A rule is suggested to screen out the toxic staff - the no asshole rule.The rule is named such because the author felt that words like 'jerk' and 'bully' don't have the same impact.Damn right !

Two tests are specified for recognition of the asshole:

1. After encountering the person, do people feel oppressed, humiliated or otherwise worse about themselves?
2. Does the person target people who are less powerful than themselves ?

This rule is in the company of other illustrious rules like -

1. Murphy's Law - "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."
2. Finagle's Law - "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way."
3. Segal's Law - "A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure".
4. Student syndrome refers to the phenomenon that many people(esp students) will start to fully apply themselves to a task just at the last possible moment before a deadline.
5. Sturgeon's revelation - "90 percent of everything is crap."
6. Sayre's Law-"In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the stakes at issue."
7. Dilbert's Principle- It proposes that the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management.