Now granted that just might have put me up for being determined a “certified asshole”; but I am getting a little ahead of myself. According to this book there are several types of assholes; those that occasionally treat people bad (which is everyone) and certified assholes that are always that way. And just in case you were unsure what qualifies someone as an asshole there is a handy list of the 12 points of the assholes. Now the problem I have with this list is that many of the points listed branch so much further outside of just being an “asshole”; things like resist, sexist, or homophobic. To me these are things that need to be addressed differently than just being someone that is hard to deal with.

I will go ahead and apologize for using the term “asshole” so freely; but if you are to read this book believe me this is nothing compared to that. Also another thing you will need to be prepared for is the constant name dropping, discussion of companies that the author found that uses the same ideals in the book, and self promoting of his other books.

His ideas on how not to hire assholes and how to fire assholes is backed by tons of studies, percentages, and a breakdown on what an asshole could cost a business. But to me the only thing I could think was “Thank you Captain Obvious”. Then comes this weird balancing act as if he wants to make sure that people don’t make snap decisions. In one part he talks about making sure someone you encounter that is acting like an asshole isn’t perhaps just having a bad day and is perhaps normally a really nice person; but in another part he talks about how if someone rubs you the wrong way during the hiring process to go ahead and dismiss them. What if they were just having a bad day?

So my advice. Don’t bother with this book. If you are a boss and you see someone slowing down work because of their actions (rude, incompetent, slacker, etc.) let them go. But you didn’t really need me to tell you that did you? And you won’t need studies and percentages from this book to make you feel like you did the right thing either.

-Martha has been a writer for Shakefire.com since 2006.

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