Huggy Rao

‘If every leader took the ideas in this book seriously, the world would be a less miserable, more productive place.’ Adam Grant, author of Think AgainEvery organisation is plagued by destructive friction. Lengthy and convoluted emails, inefficient processes, and antiquated procedures can all be obstacles to excellence at work. Yet some forms of friction are incredibly useful. Often teams need to slow down, struggle and develop some bad ideas to find that rare good one. And leaders who attempt to improve workplace efficiency often make things even worse. Drawing from seven years of hands-on research, The Friction Project by bestselling authors Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao teaches readers how to become “friction fixers.” Sutton and Rao will help you to:identify where to avert and repair bad organisational frictionacknowledge where to maintain and inject good frictionreframe friction troubles that can’t be immediately fixed, so they feel less threateningrepair failing organisationsThe Friction Project is the ultimate guide to making the right things easier and the wrong things harder.‘Hard to put down and easy to like, this is a business book to savour.’ Tim Harford, author of The Data Detective

A year's worth of management wisdom, all in one place. We've reviewed the ideas, insights, and best practices from the past year of Harvard Business Review to keep you up to date on the most cutting-edge, influential thinking driving business today. With authors from Ginni Rometty to Robert I. Sutton and company examples from Maersk to Nvidia, this volume brings the most current and important management conversations right to your fingertips. This book will inspire you to: Reskill your organization in the age of AI Rid your company of the obstacles that infuriate everyone Understand what today's rainmakers do differently Market sustainable products effectively Choose the right sources of demand to grow your company at the right speed Use strategic thinking to create the life you want This collection of articles includes "Reskilling in the Age of AI," by Jorge Tamayo, Leila Doumi, Sagar Goel, Orsolya Kovacs-Ondrejkovic, and Raffaella Sadun; "How Fast Should Your Company Really Grow?," by Gary P. Pisano; "How to Sustain Your Empathy in Difficult Times," by Jamil Zaki; "The New-Collar Workforce," by Colleen Ammerman, Boris Groysberg, and Ginni Rometty; "Rid Your Organization of Obstacles That Infuriate Everyone," by Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao; "Where Does DEI Go from Here?," by Laura Morgan Roberts; "What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently," by Matthew Dixon, Ted McKenna, Rory Channer, and Karen Freeman; "The New Era of Industrial Policy Is Here," by Willy C. Shih; "How to Market Sustainable Products," by Frederic Dalsace and Goutam Challagalla; "What Does 'Stakeholder Capitalism' Mean to You?," by Lynn S. Paine; and "Use Strategic Thinking to Create the Life You Want," by Rainer Strack, Susanne Dyrchs, and Allison Bailey. HBR's 10 Must Reads paperback series is the definitive collection of books for new and experienced leaders alike. Leaders looking for the inspiration that big ideas provide, both to accelerate their own growth and that of their companies, should look no further. HBR's 10 Must Reads series focuses on the core topics that every ambitious manager needs to know: leadership, strategy, change, managing people, and managing yourself. Harvard Business Review has sorted through hundreds of articles and selected only the most essential reading on each topic. Each title includes timeless advice that will be relevant regardless of an ever-changing business environment.

Featured in Financial Times 'Best Business Books of 2024'The definitive guide to eliminating the forces that make it harder, more complicated, or downright impossible to get things done in organizations. Find out why Adam Grant says "If every leader took the ideas in this book seriously, the world would be a less miserable, more productive place." Every organization is plagued by destructive friction. Yet some forms of friction are incredibly useful, and leaders who attempt to improve workplace efficiency often make things even worse. Drawing from seven years of hands-on research, The Friction Project by bestselling authors Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao teaches readers how to become “friction fixers.” Sutton and Rao kick off the book by unpacking how skilled friction fixers think and act like trustees of others’ time. They provide friction forensics to help readers identify where to avert and repair bad organizational friction and where to maintain and inject good friction. Then their help pyramid shows how friction fixers do their work, from reframing friction troubles they can’t fix right now, so they feel less threatening, to designing and repairing organizations. The heart of the book digs into the causes and solutions for five of the most common and damaging friction troubles: oblivious leaders, addition sickness, broken connections, jargon monoxide, and fast and frenzied people and teams. Sound familiar? Sutton and Rao are here to help. They wrap things up with lessons for leading your own friction project, including linking little things to big things; the power of civility, caring, and love for propelling designs and repairs; and embracing the mess that is an inevitable part of the process (while still trying to clean it up). 'Entertaining and eminently practical' - Financial Times

The definitive guide to eliminating the forces that make it harder, more complicated, or downright impossible to get things done in organizations. Find out why Adam Grant says "If every leader took the ideas in this book seriously, the world would be a less miserable, more productive place." Every organization is plagued by destructive friction. Yet some forms of friction are incredibly useful, and leaders who attempt to improve workplace efficiency often make things even worse. Drawing from seven years of hands-on research, The Friction Project by bestselling authors Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao teaches readers how to become "friction fixers." Sutton and Rao kick off the book by unpacking how skilled friction fixers think and act like trustees of others' time. They provide friction forensics to help readers identify where to avert and repair bad organizational friction and where to maintain and inject good friction. Then their help pyramid shows how friction fixers do their work, from reframing friction troubles they can't fix right now, so they feel less threatening, to designing and repairing organizations. The heart of the book digs into the causes and solutions for five of the most common and damaging friction troubles: oblivious leaders, addition sickness, broken connections, jargon monoxide, and fast and frenzied people and teams. Sound familiar? Sutton and Rao are here to help. They wrap things up with lessons for leading your own friction project, including linking little things to big things; the power of civility, caring, and love for propelling designs and repairs; and embracing the mess that is an inevitable part of the process (while still trying to clean it up).

Wall Street Journal Bestseller "The pick of 2014's management books." -Andrew Hill, Financial Times "One of the top business books of the year." -Harvey Schacter, The Globe and Mail Bestselling author, Robert Sutton and Stanford colleague, Huggy Rao tackle a challenge that determines every organization's success: how to scale up farther, faster, and more effectively as an organization grows. Sutton and Rao have devoted much of the last decade to uncovering what it takes to build and uncover pockets of exemplary performance, to help spread them, and to keep recharging organizations with ever better work practices. Drawing on inside accounts and case studies and academic research from a wealth of industries-- including start-ups, pharmaceuticals, airlines, retail, financial services, high-tech, education, non-profits, government, and healthcare-- Sutton and Rao identify the key scaling challenges that confront every organization. They tackle the difficult trade-offs that organizations must make between whether to encourage individualized approaches tailored to local needs or to replicate the same practices and customs as an organization or program expands. They reveal how the best leaders and teams develop, spread, and instill the right mindsets in their people-- rather than ruining or watering down the very things that have fueled successful growth in the past. They unpack the principles that help to cascade excellence throughout an organization, as well as show how to eliminate destructive beliefs and behaviors that will hold them back. Scaling Up Excellence is the first major business book devoted to this universal and vexing challenge and it is destined to become the standard bearer in the field.