The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder

by Robert I. Sutton

“Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.”

if we focus on what to make easier and faster and what to make harder and slower, life will be better for workers and the people they serve.

And don’t stop questioning what your organization does and pressing others to figure out how to do it better.

“authentic pride,” the self-esteem gained from being a conscientious and caring person who accomplishes good things by treating others well.

“Is it the right—or the wrong—thing for us to do?” and “Do we have the will and skill to do it well?

If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way.

Friction fixers serve as shock absorbers, too: doing routine chores, dealing with reasonable and unreasonable demands and interruptions, and enduring unwarranted cruelty so that others don’t have to.

Absorbing and deflecting friction so others don’t have to often requires more courage and self-sacrifice than reframing and navigation.