What is “destructive friction”? Bestselling authors Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao say that 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.

Join us as Sutton and Rao teach people how to become “friction fixers.”

Sutton and Rao say 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. Sutton and Rao dig 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. Don’t miss their appearance at Commonwealth Club World Affairs, where they will give lessons for leading your own friction project; the power of civility, caring, and love for propelling designs and repairs; and embracing the mess that is an inevitable part of the process.

NOTES

Photos courtesy of speakers.

February 6, 2024

Speakers

Huggy Rao
Atholl McBean Professor of Organizational Behavior, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Co-Author, The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder; X @huggyrao

Robert Sutton
Organizational Psychologist, Professor of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford Engineering School; Co-Author, The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder; X @work_mat

In Conversation with Mary Cranston
Retired Partner and Former Chair, Pillsbury Law Firm; Past Chair, Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California Board of Governors

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