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Bob Sutton

@bobsutton.net

2.2K followers 655 following 232 posts

Organizational psychologist, NYT bestelling author, and Professor Emeritus at Stanford. My 8 books include Good Boss Bad Boss, Scaling Up Excellence, The No Asshole Rule, The Knowing-Doing Gap, and now, The Friction Project. www.bobsutton.net

Posts Replies Media

Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 24/05/2025

The wise @pahlkadot.bsky.social uses this slide with "Hill staffers who ask me what they should do to improve the performance of an underperforming agency." The key contrast is "something is wrong with these people" vs. "something is wrong with this system." Friction-fixers are system-fixers!

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 15/05/2025

Here is the "unofficial" plaque placed behind one of the @CASBS "studies. The primary author is my friend, and current CASBS fellow, @decelles.bsky.social

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 30/03/2025

A new field experiment in the Journal of Applied Psychology found real teams (in a manufacturing firm) trained in design thinking had greater improvement in performance (compared to after action reviews and a control group), including efficiency (i.e.,time savings) psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 16/03/2025

Much has changed since a small group of us joined David Kelley in 2004 or so to start Stanford's d. School. Part of David's genius was playing off "b.schools" to clarify our mission. I stumbled across this graphic from "Creating Infectious Action," which @metacool.bsky.social and I taught in 2006.

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 06/03/2025

"The Friction Project" has been my main mission for 8 years The key lesson from my book with Huggy Rao: The best leaders are TRUSTEES OF OTHERS TIME, friction fixers with the will and skill to make the right things easier and the wrong things harder for others www.amazon.com/dp/125028441...

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 20/02/2025

A favorite cartoon..which suggests that the asshole quotient on the planet is constant rather than variable!

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 03/01/2025

A fantastic assault on some of the worst jargon monoxide spewed out by corporations, consultants, and the like. hashtag#frictionproject www.linkedin.com/posts/anifil...

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 07/12/2024

One of the fun parts of writing a book is to see the different covers and translations. Here's the proposed Portuguese cover of my book with Huggy Rao,"The Friction Project." I like it but don't speak Portuguese! If you do, let me know what you think.

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 01/12/2024

With all the talk about removing unnecessary red tape in government, I think of "Subtract" by Leidy Klotz. Check it out. I laugh every time I read the jacket flap. They are usually dull and lame. Not this one. Look how Leidy illustrated the power of subtraction! www.amazon.com/dp/125024986...

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 28/11/2024

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 26/11/2024

I keep putting off writing something on our 'jargon monoxide" chapter in "The Friction Project" with Huggy Rao. One "flavor" is the "jargon mish-mash syndrome:" when a term means so many things to so many people, that it means nothing. Take "agile." One consultant defined 40 kinds in 40 minutes!

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 21/11/2024

On the gears, our wonderful editor Tim Bartlett and the rest of the St. Martin's Press team was so patient with us as we rejected one book cover concept after another--and did come up with one we loved. BUT see below for one with gears that we ALMOST chose.

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 15/11/2024

Creativity Inc is also splendid. My blub:"[Ed Catmull] shows how Pixar’s greatness results from connecting the specific little things they do (mostly things that anyone can do in any organization) to the big goal..making films that make them feel proud of one another." www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/...

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Bob Sutton @bobsutton.net · 15/11/2024

One of my favorites:

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