The Art of Friction

“Friction for us has to do with obstacles,” says Hayagreeva “Huggy” Rao, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. “Obstacles can disable you. Obstacles can enable you.” Rao compares friction to cholesterol: Some is good, but some is bad. “Good friction actually slows you down, gets you to pause, and most of all, gets you to reflect,” he explains. “But there’s also friction that overwhelms you, exhausts you, confuses you.” On this episode of If/Then, Rao explores how to cultivate the productive kind of friction, reduce the unhelpful kind, and manage your team’s most precious resource. “Great leaders are people who think of themselves as trustees of other people's time,” he says. Do you have any favorite examples of good or bad friction? Share one with us at ifthenpod@stanford.edu. Related Content: Huggy Rao faculty profile: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/hayagreeva-rao The Friction Project: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250284426/thefrictionproject/ Career Advice: How to Become a “Friction Fixer”: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/career-advice-how-become-friction-fixer Chapters: 00:00:00 Airport baggage claim, waiting, & good friction 00:03:20 Introduction 00:03:48 What friction means in organizations 00:05:42 Where friction comes from 00:07:52 Scaling through smart subtraction 00:08:24 DropBox’s approach to meetings 00:10:45 The problem with meetings 00:13:53 What good friction looks like 00:16:56 Friction, trust, & institutional legitimacy 00:19:31 Why Huggy Rao started studying friction 00:22:20 Conclusion If/Then, from Stanford GSB, features conversations with faculty that explore how their research deepens our understanding of business and leadership. Find out more about If/Then: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/if-then Listen on: 🔊 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/if-then/id1725380194 🔊 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1v7V6LGUxfplMByTpVwk7h?si=38f353685fec4dd5 #gsbifthen #gsbpodcasts