The Friction Project

How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder

By: Robert I. Sutton, Huggy Rao

Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins

Brought to you by Penguin.

No organization is totally free from destructive friction; the forces that make it harder, more complicated and sometimes downright impossible to get things done. Drawing on years of research and featuring case studies on the likes of Uber, Netflix and Boeing, The Friction Project teaches listeners how to become 'friction fixers'.

Stanford professors Sutton and Rao unpack how we should think and act like trustees of others' time. They provide friction forensics to help listeners identify where to avert and repair bad friction, and where to maintain and inject good friction. Their help pyramid shows how friction fixers do their work, which ranges from reframing issues they can't fix in the short term, to ultimately redesigning and repairing organizations.

The Friction Project is the essential guide to understanding and resolving workplace difficulties, and establishing a thriving culture of positivity and productivity in their place.

©2024 Huggy Rao and Robert I. Sutton (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

'Hard to put down and easy to like' - Tim Harford, author of The Data Detective and host of Cautionary Tales