Crocker’s Rules

This weekend, I was listening to The Tim Ferriss Show Podcast.  (I really love the podcast, but I’ll save my comments about it for a future day.)

This episode featured Tobi Lutke, founder, and CEO of Shopify.  Lutke hit on a few neat ideas, but the one that caught my eye was his discussion of Crocker’s Rules.

If you play by Crocker’s Rules, you signal to other people that they should give you feedback without worrying whether it will hurt your feelings.  You accept full responsibility for how you feel under Crocker’s Rules – and you simply want direct feedback as quickly as you can get it, without all the normal social etiquette that can dilute the message.

Crocker’s Rules is something you signal to your team. Once they know you are playing by those Rules, they get the green light to cut to the chase without sugar coating. But it only works one way. You can’t force someone else to play by the Rules.

 

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