Laszlo Bock, Founder of Humu, Author of “Work Rules!”
Today, my guest is Laszlo Bock, CEO & Founder of Humu and Best-Selling Author of Work Rules!.
Laszlo's first book, WORK RULES! Insights from Inside Google to Transform How You Live and Lead, has been published in more than 20 languages and was named among the Best Business Books of the Year (The Economist), Top 10 Creative Leadership Books of the Year (Forbes), Top 10 Business Books of the Year (Amazon.com) and #1 Best Translated Book in Japan (Association of Japanese Publishers and Editors).
From 2006 to 2016, Laszlo was Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google and a member of Google’s management team. Over that decade, he partnered closely with Google’s three CEOs – Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sundar Pichai – growing the company from about 6,000 to 75,000 employees and ensuring the firm’s culture remained innovative and robust. Laszlo holds a BS in international relations from Pomona College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
In this candid conversation, Laszlo shared the real stories behind writing his bestselling book, his grueling writing routine, and his mission to scale great management practices to the rest of the world through his new startup.
1. A Mile-High Revelation. Laszlo revealed that the inspiration to write Work Rules! was partly sparked by a random conversation on an airplane. After he shared some of Google's counterintuitive management practices—like actively taking hiring power away from managers—the astounded passenger urged him to write a book. With CEO Larry Page's blessing to share these internal people practices for the betterment of the world, Laszlo set out to write a highly practical and actionable guide to building a great workplace culture.
2. The 16-Week Pajama Marathon. Despite his deep expertise in human resources, writing the book was an incredibly difficult process. For 16 straight weeks, Laszlo completely dedicated his weekends to writing one chapter per week, working intensely from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. without even showering or changing out of his pajamas. His grueling dedication paid off; the book ultimately sold over half a million copies in 25 languages, and Laszlo donates every single penny of the proceeds directly to charity.
3. A Universal Title. Laszlo credits his wife as the "namer-in-chief" who came up with the title Work Rules!, complete with an 80s-inspired exclamation point. Crucially, she recognized that they needed to actively push back against the publisher's desire to feature "Google" prominently in the title. She knew that if the book was positioned merely as a Google success story, readers might dismiss the advice as something that only works for a massive tech giant with an unlimited budget, rather than recognizing its universal application for companies of any size.
4. Nudging the World. After nearly 11 years as the head of People Operations, Laszlo eventually left Google because he realized that while 72,000 Google employees enjoyed a wonderful work environment, there were 4 billion other people in the world who didn't. To bridge this gap, he founded a tech startup called Humu. Rather than relying on traditional corporate training that rarely works, Humu uses AI-driven "nudges"—tiny, targeted interventions like a reminder email or text message—to effortlessly help employees and leaders build better collaboration and management habits.
