# difficult people
7 moments across 2 episodes. Click any moment to jump straight to that part of the episode.
0:00Why some people are difficult at workAl Elliott: Geoff is just, like you say, a bit of an asshole at work. What possibly is driving Geoff to be like this? Aoife O'Brien: We can all think about those difficult people at work. I have some very specific examplEP 255 · 4 Dec 2025·interview· 0:00–1:433:45Why difficult people aren't born—they're createdAoife O'Brien: So, my name is Aoife O'Brien. I work with global organizations on helping them to create thriving organizations. That's all based on my own personal experiences at work and my quest to uncover what those tEP 255 · 4 Dec 2025·interview· 3:45–5:465:47Diagnosing Geoff: the three universal needsAl Elliott: So, let's talk about these drivers then. So, let's take a fictitious person. So, this person we're gonna call Jeff. Jeff is just, like you say, a bit of an asshole at work. What possibly is driving Jeff to beEP 255 · 4 Dec 2025·interview· 5:47–8:4730:54Silicon Valley's Guilfoyle: when difficult is high performanceAoife O'Brien: So, first of all, highly commend the Silicon Valley mention. I love that show. I think I got into it during the pandemic and just binged. I highly recommend people go and check out that show, and you've inEP 255 · 4 Dec 2025·interview· 30:54–34:0434:05How to tell if you're the difficult one in the roomAl Elliott: Let me ask you, how can we tell if we are the difficult one in the room? Aoife O'Brien: A couple of points here, and stealing from Bob Sutton's book, Robert I. Sutton, his book, The No Asshole Rule. And he saEP 255 · 4 Dec 2025·interview· 34:05–37:5844:37Are there people who just enjoy being difficult?Aoife O'Brien: That's such a good question. And I'm trying to think. I certainly have known people. And I'm trying to think, what is that driver? What's that unmet need that that person has? Was their family life difficuEP 255 · 4 Dec 2025·interview· 44:37–47:0643:00How to manage people you really dislikeAl Elliott: How do you manage people you really, really dislike? Isabel Berwick: I really wanted to write about this because I think this is one of the great undertalked about things at work. I think in the rest of our lEP 235 · 25 Sept 2025·interview· 43:00–44:45
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