Robert I. Sutton is Professor Emeritus of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University, where he spent more than four decades teaching and researching organizational psychology, leadership, innovation, and workplace dynamics. His main focus over the past decade is on scaling and leading at scale — how to grow organizations, spread good things (and remove bad things) in teams and organizations, and enhance performance, innovation, and well-being in organizations. In addition, Sutton studies, speaks about, and advises organizations on the fundamentals for great leadership, innovation, and how to build workplaces that are free from destructive workplace dynamics (especially from the antics of temporary and certified assholes).

Sutton received his Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from the University of Michigan and has served on the Stanford faculty since 1983. Sutton is co-founder and former co-director of the Center for Work, Technology and Organization, co-founder of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and co-founder of the “Stanford d.school,” a multi-disciplinary program that helps people reach their creative potential. He is currently an advisor to Teamraderie and Asana’s Work Innovation Lab.

Sutton has published eight books and two edited volumes. These include The Knowing-Doing Gap and Total Nonsense (both with Jeffrey Pfeffer), Weird Ideas That Work, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, The No Asshole Rule and Good Boss, Bad Boss (both New York Times bestsellers), Scaling-Up Excellence (with Huggy Rao, a Wall Street Journal bestseller) and The Asshole Survival Guide.

Sutton and Huggy Rao published The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder, which was named one of the Best Business Books of 2024 by the Financial Times. This book unpacks insights from the duo’s seven-year project using academic research, case studies, classes and workshops, and ongoing dialog with scholars, executives, and innovators to learn how smart organizations make the right things easier and the wrong things harder and do it without driving employees and customers crazy. Find him at www.bobsutton.net.