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Be Slightly Evil: A Playbook for Sociopaths
In 2010, Venkatesh Rao, author of the widely read ribbonfarm.com blog, began writing an email newsletter called "Be Slightly Evil" on the timeless theme of power and influence dynamics in the world of work. By the time the list was retired in 2013, it had over 2200 readers and was growing steadily. This ebook is a carefully sequenced and edited compilation of the archives, with a 5000-word bonus essay, "Inside the Tempo," which serves as a capstone conclusion to the series.
231 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 15, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
July 12, 2020
I didn't find much in here particularly compelling. Rao's "slightly evil" mode of behavior seems to basically consist of trying to replace one's personality with a miscellaneous bag of tricks for impersonating a human in order to gain advantage in adversarial situations, with said tricks being informed by a mix of pop psychology and (I would assume from the many references) movies and television programs. Numerous ideas presented in rough outline are noted as being "complex," with in most cases no further explanation of that complexity forthcoming. There are also naturally caveats about how the real world is messy and therefore none of these tactics may work consistently in practice. Feels pretty half-baked overall; the value here is primarily in seeing how Rao himself thinks (or did at the time these essays were written, anyway). Here's hoping his subsequent Ribbonfarm e-books have a bit more meat to them.
December 28, 2018
First off - taking good blogs and building anthologies should be more of a cottage industry. While the medium of the blog / essay is taking off, the power of consuming a corpus of curated articles shouldn't be lost. I'm in the middle of reading a few of these from blogs that I've perused casually, and it's been a great experience.
Following up on a perennial favorite, The Gervais Principle, Be Slightly Evil is a playbook for navigating a particular kind of environment. There are some good nuggets throughout, but as one might guess, the medium prevents a strong narrative flow.
Overall, the fundamental dialectic is the tension between an ideal and a tragic view of human nature:
"Now here is the paradox: idealism believes in change and creates unchanging human beings. Tragedism (to coin a word) believes humans cannot change their fundamental natures, yet believing in it actually transforms humans far more radically than the idealist view."
In one section, Rao attacks a idealist preference for non-zero-sum games with the concept that sometimes (and this is where it's "slightly evil") the right move is a zero-sum move. In another, he introduces the concept of "creating luck" by stacking the deck in favor of serendipity. And like Simon Wardley, he's a big believer in using the right tool for the job: sometimes fast following is a dominant strategy, sometimes it's a first-mover game.
Overall, I think that the highlights from this will enter my lexicon and change how I manage, but it didn't reach the level of some other blog-books I read this holiday season.
Following up on a perennial favorite, The Gervais Principle, Be Slightly Evil is a playbook for navigating a particular kind of environment. There are some good nuggets throughout, but as one might guess, the medium prevents a strong narrative flow.
Overall, the fundamental dialectic is the tension between an ideal and a tragic view of human nature:
"Now here is the paradox: idealism believes in change and creates unchanging human beings. Tragedism (to coin a word) believes humans cannot change their fundamental natures, yet believing in it actually transforms humans far more radically than the idealist view."
In one section, Rao attacks a idealist preference for non-zero-sum games with the concept that sometimes (and this is where it's "slightly evil") the right move is a zero-sum move. In another, he introduces the concept of "creating luck" by stacking the deck in favor of serendipity. And like Simon Wardley, he's a big believer in using the right tool for the job: sometimes fast following is a dominant strategy, sometimes it's a first-mover game.
Overall, I think that the highlights from this will enter my lexicon and change how I manage, but it didn't reach the level of some other blog-books I read this holiday season.
December 9, 2019
There's important variance, as to quality and effect, between Rao as a blog writer and a book writer.
Or: there is important variance, as to quality and effect, between blog posts presented as blog posts in a blog and blog posts seriated into a book.
Read his "The Gervais Principle" -- on the blog or in ebook, that one is a masterpiece.
After that, his Learning to Fly by Missing the Ground post.
Or: there is important variance, as to quality and effect, between blog posts presented as blog posts in a blog and blog posts seriated into a book.
Read his "The Gervais Principle" -- on the blog or in ebook, that one is a masterpiece.
After that, his Learning to Fly by Missing the Ground post.
September 25, 2013
Where philosophy, self-help, and management collide, you end up with a book like this. Though the title advocates evil, it's more primarily a pun on Google's motto. The core focus in the book is advice and analysis centered around all of the many situations where "Win, Win" is not a viable outcome.
A valuable read.
A valuable read.
October 20, 2017
Interesting perspective on social interactions
I can't remember being so emotionally affected by a description of social interaction before. This series of blogs turned into an ebook has the potential for changing your ability to thrive in social situations especially if you happen to be somewhere on the autism spectrum.
I can't remember being so emotionally affected by a description of social interaction before. This series of blogs turned into an ebook has the potential for changing your ability to thrive in social situations especially if you happen to be somewhere on the autism spectrum.
August 5, 2016
Venkatesh's slightly evil is essential reading for those who are prone to self-pity and self-help. And for those who aren't it still yields lots of useful heuristics and mental models.
January 3, 2015
I enjoyed this, but then I am a bit of a Venkatesh groupy. It's an uneven collection of writing on adversarial thinking. Ultimately, I think "be slightly detached" would've been a better title, because a lot of this is actually about mindfulness and the zen warrior concept of thinking in action, or orientation in boydian terms. The closing essay, providing an overview of how competitive "games" evolve was by far the most interesting for me. It provided me with some new metaphors for thinking about creative destruction and such.
January 26, 2021
This ebook focuses on (for the most part) interpersonal interactions in a corporate context. I find Rao to be a very interesting individual and love reading his thoughts on things.
I think this book is best consumed when one doesn't take it too seriously. Many of the reviews criticize the essays for being half baked, but Rao pokes fun at himself and is highly self aware throughout. In fact, the preface clearly states that it's a collection of emails he sent from his newsletter over a period of time. I wouldn't expect anymore than he tells you to from the start.
I think this book is best consumed when one doesn't take it too seriously. Many of the reviews criticize the essays for being half baked, but Rao pokes fun at himself and is highly self aware throughout. In fact, the preface clearly states that it's a collection of emails he sent from his newsletter over a period of time. I wouldn't expect anymore than he tells you to from the start.
August 13, 2020
I picked this up after reading a few wonderful posts on Rao's blog. Here I found a string of blog posts slight manipulation, but there's immense variance in the quality and topics here, to the point where it's barely coherent, so I would not even call this a book. I will try the Gervais Principle ebook next, for which I have better hope.
January 10, 2015
Awesome
March 11, 2016
Eh, not super.
April 30, 2024
Entertaining book to read instead of twitter! I don't fully buy the premise that you need to manipulate in order to accomplish anything in a group, but VGR is like a cranked up theory economist who uses pop culture as his evidence, so this book was fun. My theory is the type of person who overanalyzes organizations to this degree typically don't work at these orgs, which seems to check out with VGR's career. A lot of his archetypes are satisfying and fun-to-pattern-match; I find myself thinking of past coworkers during specific events, though no one really sits in an archetype without some bouncing around.
Most useful essay: the one about negotiation
Most potential to be useful: the shadow work one
Surprisingly full of bangers: the one about the aggro sales dude's emails
The ending one around VUCA games was really ambitious but just too theoretical. Overall I'm less cynical than VGR, but corporate hierarchies do bring out SOMETHING in people. Also it was funny when he called NNT his evil twin when I find their writing styles oddly reminiscent of each others', though I do heavily prefer VGR's conclusions somehow.
Most useful essay: the one about negotiation
Most potential to be useful: the shadow work one
Surprisingly full of bangers: the one about the aggro sales dude's emails
The ending one around VUCA games was really ambitious but just too theoretical. Overall I'm less cynical than VGR, but corporate hierarchies do bring out SOMETHING in people. Also it was funny when he called NNT his evil twin when I find their writing styles oddly reminiscent of each others', though I do heavily prefer VGR's conclusions somehow.
July 14, 2025
Solid book. If you're not familiar with this genre of organizational theory/meta-analysis of corporate environments, then it's a good intro lots of useful frameworks. The "evil" in the title itself is part of a "good"-"evil" spectrum of analysis. Some parts I don't agree with (i.e., I don't think petards really work/only work among losers), but some really good core ideas about OODA, VUCA, and tempo. It also fleshes out his use of the sociopath vs. clueless dynamic more in practical ways (e.g., a leader's job is to provide positive attitude under uncertainty and shield underlings from sensemaking).
September 8, 2021
A great book that sheds light on the subtle power plays in and outside the office world.
The author discusses power plays, deception and status in a fun and engaging manner so I highly recommend this book to empathetic readers who need actionable tools to fight back against those who are naturally inclined to lie and deceit.
The author discusses power plays, deception and status in a fun and engaging manner so I highly recommend this book to empathetic readers who need actionable tools to fight back against those who are naturally inclined to lie and deceit.
November 17, 2022
Had like 20-30 pages of useful content (out of 220 or so pages). There was a whole section about how to appear "high status" by holding doors open for people, like wtf? Not a good use of my time (that whole section and several others). The author is clearly smart guy but book could've used better editing.
March 25, 2018
Uselessness
This book is somewhat entertaining but I am having a hard time believing the author owns a successful consulting business, if the author does and her clients follow the philosophises found in this book they are bound for failure.
This book is somewhat entertaining but I am having a hard time believing the author owns a successful consulting business, if the author does and her clients follow the philosophises found in this book they are bound for failure.
May 23, 2025
Picked this up because I liked his other book and the title intrigued me.
Could only make it 60% of the way through. Tactical and prescriptive guide to the workplace as opposed to a philosophical commentary on workplace dynamics. The former is boring, hence the DNF.
Could only make it 60% of the way through. Tactical and prescriptive guide to the workplace as opposed to a philosophical commentary on workplace dynamics. The former is boring, hence the DNF.
September 9, 2017
I really enjoy Rao's weekly email writing so decided to read his books - this is the first in a series of seven.
March 3, 2018
Must read to survive in a corporate setting.
July 11, 2018
Started out good. Really good, full of promise. Ultimatelty, it was caught in abstractions and didn't deliver.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2019
An addendum to the Gervais Principle that complements and enriches it. A must read.
July 25, 2019
Great book
March 12, 2020
I don't know what I've read but since it has a cover, an ISBN number, must be a book.
March 16, 2022
Depection of how work place success is.
August 19, 2024
I am a Venkatesh Rao fan. Have been for awhile. Termed a "playbook," this volume has a lot of advice. Like a lot of advice, much of it is only valuable if it's intuitive and instantly accessible in-the-moment. I do not wish to completely discount the advice — most knowledge begins as non-intuitive — but rather to caution the reader against thinking that the book will immediately make them a Tyrion-level operator.
Here's one of my highlights, to get a flavor.
"Here’s a curious paradox: the more you insist on sticking to a straight-and-narrow path defined by your own evolving principles, rather than the expedient one defined by current situation, the more you’ll have to twist and turn in the real world. The straight path in your head turns into spaghetti in the real world. On the other hand, the more your path through the real world seems like a straight road, defined by something like a “standard” career script, the more you’ll have to twist and turn philosophically to justify your life to yourself. Every step that a true Golden Boy careerist takes, is marred by deep philosophical compromises. You sell your soul one career move at a time."
Here's one of my highlights, to get a flavor.
"Here’s a curious paradox: the more you insist on sticking to a straight-and-narrow path defined by your own evolving principles, rather than the expedient one defined by current situation, the more you’ll have to twist and turn in the real world. The straight path in your head turns into spaghetti in the real world. On the other hand, the more your path through the real world seems like a straight road, defined by something like a “standard” career script, the more you’ll have to twist and turn philosophically to justify your life to yourself. Every step that a true Golden Boy careerist takes, is marred by deep philosophical compromises. You sell your soul one career move at a time."
August 8, 2014
I didn't like this book from the very beginning, but stuck with trying to read it much longer than I would ever normally consider because a friend was interested in my impressions.
There are really two levels on which I reacted to the book. The first was to its attempts to provide an integrating philosophy which frankly was just laughable, but painful if you try to stick with it.
Second, in its form as a collection of essays, it covers a lot of ground in various ways in which one might attempt to manipulate people. It might be kinder to say, "influence" but I think manipulate is a better fit. This isn't necessarily a deal-killer for me to have found some value in it, because such work often does provide a genuine ground for influencing, but the tactics described I think would lead to such terrible relationships with people that they'd sacrifice any possible value one might obtain in having values aligned between people.
Between these two basic problems, I found nothing of value in the book.
There are really two levels on which I reacted to the book. The first was to its attempts to provide an integrating philosophy which frankly was just laughable, but painful if you try to stick with it.
Second, in its form as a collection of essays, it covers a lot of ground in various ways in which one might attempt to manipulate people. It might be kinder to say, "influence" but I think manipulate is a better fit. This isn't necessarily a deal-killer for me to have found some value in it, because such work often does provide a genuine ground for influencing, but the tactics described I think would lead to such terrible relationships with people that they'd sacrifice any possible value one might obtain in having values aligned between people.
Between these two basic problems, I found nothing of value in the book.
August 25, 2015
decent collection of blog posts, plenty of ideas to think about. Note: "sociopath" in subtitle is a reference to a previous book with a (imo) strained re-definition.
"If your team can’t escape certain consequences when things go wrong, by saying “my manager said it was okay,” you are not doing enough for them."
"one of the easiest ways to figure someone out is to look at the information they choose to consume."
"Discussing ideas is only a sign of great minds if events and people – both matters of context and motivation – have been adequately dealt with."
"This is a tough idea for win-win types to accept: vindictive pushback is a very rational reaction."
"If your team can’t escape certain consequences when things go wrong, by saying “my manager said it was okay,” you are not doing enough for them."
"one of the easiest ways to figure someone out is to look at the information they choose to consume."
"Discussing ideas is only a sign of great minds if events and people – both matters of context and motivation – have been adequately dealt with."
"This is a tough idea for win-win types to accept: vindictive pushback is a very rational reaction."
October 14, 2015
My hope was for a bit of philosophical navel gazing from the blog posts I read, or like what can be found on overcoming Bias. Sadly, this reads like a self help book aimed at people who are uncomfortable being human and prefer aping a robotic ideal.
Some creative narrative building within, but it is obfuscated by the book trying to be relevant to daily life.
In hindsight, the title should've tipped me off
Some creative narrative building within, but it is obfuscated by the book trying to be relevant to daily life.
In hindsight, the title should've tipped me off
August 9, 2016
Rao's ideas are interesting, as usual. However, I found this book less coherent than some of this other work. Much of the text was too abstract with very little real world examples or stories to pin them down.
February 8, 2015
It was alright. While it introduced some interesting concepts, the book itself did not seem to present empirically-backed ideas from newer research. Instead, he uses examples from pop culture with some great methodology from a very narrow pool.
I guess I expected more.
I guess I expected more.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews