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:
- Make your employees owners
- Coach folks on mitigating their ego
- Model good behavior
- Hire folks with vision
- Hire slowly and only hire amazing people who are better than you
- Assume that people are basically good
- Give people more freedom than you are comfortable with
- Fix your performance management process