Robert I. Sutton, Huggy Rao, Sean Patrick Hopkins (Read by)

The Friction Project

How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder

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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

No organization is totally free from destructive friction; the forces that make it harder, more

complicated and sometimes downright impossible to get things done. Drawing on years of research and featuring case studies on the likes of Uber, Netflix and Boeing, The Friction Project teaches readers how to become 'friction fixers'.

Stanford professors Sutton and Rao unpack how we should think and act like trustees of others' time. They provide friction forensics to help readers identify where to avert and repair bad friction, and where to maintain and inject good friction. Their help pyramid shows how friction fixers do their work, which ranges from reframing issues they can't fix in the short term, to ultimately redesigning and repairing organizations.

The Friction Project is the essential guide to understanding and resolving workplace difficulties, and establishing a thriving culture of positivity and productivity in their place.

'Hard to put down and easy to like' - Tim Harford, author of The Data Detective and host of Cautionary Tales

©2024 Huggy Rao & Robert I. Sutton (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Reviews

This is a practical manual, an entertaining litany of "bad" friction, from pointless meetings to guff-filled emails, a hymn in praise of "friction-fixers", and a timely pointer to the "good" friction that nudges us away from bad decisions
Financial Times, (Best Books of 2024: Business)

About the authors

Robert I. Sutton

Robert I. Sutton is an organizational psychologist and professor of Management Science and Engineering in the Stanford Engineering School. He has given keynote speeches to more than 200 groups in 20 countries, and served on numerous scholarly editorial boards. Sutton’s work has been featured in the New York Times, BusinessWeek, The Atlantic, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, and Washington Post. He is a frequent guest on various television and radio programs, and has written seven books and two edited volumes, including the bestsellers The No Asshole Rule; Good Boss, Bad Boss; and Scaling Up Excellence.

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Huggy Rao

Huggy Rao is the Atholl McBean professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Science, the Sociological Research Association, and the Academy of Management. He has written for Harvard Business Review, Business Week, and the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Market Rebels and coauthor of the bestselling Scaling Up Excellence.