Laszlo Bock’s Work Rules! is essentially nerd porn for folks into business, tech, efficiency, productivity and behavioral economics.

So obviously, I loved it.

I’ve been a fan of Google’s culture for a while now. I picked up the book after listening to a couple of podcasts (Freakonomics and Hidden Brain) that referenced Google HR analytics. I actually had to stop listening at one point. Bock references Michael Lewis’s 2009 article about Shane Battier – who is my basketball crush – resonated so strongly I had to pause.

There are too many good nuggets from Work Rules! to do them just in a blog and I highly recommend you snag a copy (bonus Bock donates all his profits to charity). A few of my favorites recommendations include:

  1. Make your employees owners
  2. Coach folks on mitigating their ego
  3. Model good behavior
  4. Hire folks with vision
  5. Hire slowly and only hire amazing people who are better than you
  6. Assume that people are basically good
  7. Give people more freedom than you are comfortable with
  8. Fix your performance management process
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