When your name is Huggy, surely people can’t help but like you. And after meeting today’s “Huggy,” all I can say is, “What’s not to like?”

Huggy Rao, along with Robert Sutton, have written a new book, out today, called The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder.

Every workplace, Huggy says, is clogged with friction—the convoluted, time-consuming, and soul-crushing gyrations that drive people crazy and undermine organizational performance.

Countless employees, executives, and customers bemoan hours lost to mazes of red tape, “efficiency tools” that become anything but, and clueless leaders who pile on needless complexity, all of which make it far too difficult to get necessary things done at work, and can burn out workers in the process.

But not all friction is bad. Striving toward a “frictionless organization” is a misguided goal, because too many organizations also make the wrong things too easy to do. Good friction exists inside organizations to help slow things down when careful consideration is needed for better and smarter decision-making.

I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Huggy, Robert and their work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.

Join in on our chat below

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In today’s episode, I ask Huggy about:

• Some of the events and experiences that brought him to a place where yhe realized this book was needed
• When it comes to addressing friction-filled issues, how a person’s level of influence plays a role as to what steps to take
• What we need to understand about our “addition bias” as humans and how we can instead put a subtraction mindset to work
• And lots more!

Order Huggy’s Book

You can order your copy of The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder right now!

Consider Ordering My Book Too!

Purchase a copy of my new book (written with Jesse Wisnewski) Read to Lead: The Simple Habit That Expands Your Influence and Boosts Your Career. There, you can also download the introduction and first chapter for free!

Note-Making Mastery Cohort AND the Read to Lead Community

Note-Making Mastery Cohort is now available as a self-paced course! Check it out.

Also, consider giving ReadtoLead+ a try free for two weeks!

And, check out my 85% off sale for my Boss-Free Virtual Summit!

Huggy in Action

Books Huggy Recommends

The Spirit of St. Louis by Charles Lindbergh

The Longest Day: The Classic Epic of D-Day by Cornelius Ryan

Check Out These Additional Resources

Grab a copy of Huggy’s book now.

Check out his website for more from Huggy.

Consider inviting Huggy to speak to your team.

Connect with Huggy personally on LinkedIn.

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Finally, thanks for listening and remember, “Leaders read and readers lead.”