I was amused recently when I read two of Guy Kawasaki’s recent book reviews. The two books reviewed are The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t and Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win.
What amused me was that I recognized myself as being an asshole (not a flattering quality). But then I also recognized myself as being a maverick (much more admirable). So I’m justifying the former with the theory that to be a maverick, you must also be an asshole.
The trouble with my theory is that if you are going to claim to be a maverick, you need to have the occasional win on your scorecard; mine resembles a golf scorecard (this is to say that low scores don’t win in this case). Unfortunately, my asshole qualities to some might be considered undebatable.
And so now I subscribe to still another theory: people are a product of their environment. So see, its not my fault after all…