257: How to Be a Friction Fixer with Huggy Rao
“We don’t want our time to be spread thin like peanut butter on a slice of toast. You will have greater impact when you concentrate your efforts on work that is closely tied to winning—however you define it.”
Are you working in a frustration factory? If so, it’s important to recognize that not all friction is created equal. Some is good, to slow down decision-making in crucial moments, and some is bad, getting in the way of progress. You’ll need to tap into your inner “grease” and “gunk” sides to address both.
In the introduction to their book, The Friction Project, coauthors Huggy Rao and Bob Sutton share a quote from Ed Catmull, former president of Pixar. He believes that if Pixar followed overreaching executives’ advice to wring maximum efficiency and scale out of the organization, it would “kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
"The goal isn't efficiency, it is to make something good or even great,” Catmull says. “We iterate seven to nine times, with friction in the process.”
More About Huggy: Huggy Rao is the Atholl McBean professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Science, the Sociological Research Association, and the Academy of Management. He has written for Harvard Business Review, Business Week, and the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Market Rebels and coauthor of the bestselling book Scaling Up Excellence. Today we’re talking about his new book, also coauthored with Bob Sutton, The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder.
🌟 3 Key Takeaways
Think of yourself as a trustee of others’ time: Don’t forget that your company is a product too. Be intentional about how customers (and team members) interact with your business at every step.
Grease people vs. gunk people: Grease people are connectors—like WD40—they like to make things easier. Gunk people are more rule and procedure-bound. These are two different aspects of ourselves.
Think of your role as Editor-in-Chief of a newspaper: Take away stuff that bores and distracts readers. You also need to do your due dilligence: fact check, interview sources. What’s the cost of serving a large, friction-filled client? Is it really worth it? Are they the right people for you to serve? Don’t be customer compelled, thinking you have to chase every customer. A great company says yes to some customers, and no to others.
📝 Permission
Start simple: get rid of stupid stuff. How will you do this every day? Can you have one decision-making rule that a ten year-old would understand?
✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next
Do a simple test of friction forensics. Ask: is this a one-way door decision I’m making, one that’s very costly to reverse? There are other decisions where the cost of failure is very low. When you’re making a one-way door decision, put in good friction to slow you down. For the latter, make things very easy for people to do.
🔗 Resources Mentioned
📚 Books Mentioned
The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder by Huggy Rao & Robert Sutton
Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull
Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less by Leidy Klotz
🎧 Related Episodes
Friction with Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao
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Pivot: 326: Fool Me Once—How to Avoid Accidental and Righteous Fraud with Kelly Pope
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