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Tony Fadell is an expert in business creation. He led the teams that created the iPod, the iPhone and Nest, the smart thermostat. After thirty years of career in Silicon Valley, he is now publishing a book to advise entrepreneurs and warn them of the four types of assholes they can encounter at work.
Based on real stories and sharing of experience, Tony Fadell, expert in business creation, wants to advise as honestly as possible those who would like to embark on the adventure of entrepreneurship.
In his latest book, entitled Build: The non-conformist advice from the creator of the iPhone and Nest to make the difference, published by Eyrolles and stamped “New York Times BestSeller”, he returns, not without humor, to the four types of bastards that you might encounter at work (you’ll probably recognize one or two).
Political bastards
Those that Tony Fadell calls “political bastards” are those colleagues who “master the art of corporate politics, do nothing, but take credit for the work of others,” he describes. “As a general rule, these bastards are extremely risk-averse – they focus exclusively on survival and crushing others in order to climb the ladder.”.
We cannot count on them to carry out a project, according to the expert. “They don’t often speak in meetings where there are a lot of people because they don’t want to take the risk of being wrong in front of their superiors and looking like idiots.”.
Manipulative bastards
As in everyday life, in the office too, it is possible to come across manipulative colleagues. These micro-managerssystematically stifle the creativity and joy of their team” reminds the author, not without humor.
“They are annoyed by any good idea that does not come from them“, “never salute the work of others, but often appropriate it“. In meetings, unlike the first type of bastard, manipulators impose themselves and do not “won’t let you place one“.
The double bastards
These seem to be the worst, for Tony Fadell. “Assholes at work like in real life” according to him. More precisely, these are “nasty, jealous and fragile jerks that you will avoid in society, but who are unfortunately next to you in the office“.
The author doesn’t mince his words and his comments are funny. “They are unproductive, doing everything possible to distract attention from themselves“, “they lie” and “rspread rumors“. The only positive point, he emphasizes, is that they are “quickly fired”, their little scheme fooling no one.
The bastards carried by the mission
“They speak candidly, ignore office politics and disrupt the fragile social order that ‘dictates how things are done here’” sums up the specialist here. This is in a way the best category of bastards for him, because if he considers them difficult to live with, he recognizes other qualities in them.
“They feel concerned. They get involved. They listen. They work extremely hard and push their team to do better.” defines the specialist. The mission-driven bastard has colleagues who “trust him, respect what he says and ultimately have good memories of their collaboration, because he pushed them to work better than ever”.
Slide: 30 quotes about work