It's a bit pedantic at the beginning, but when he defines it as "transgressiveness or willingness to transgress," it becomes much more clear. That's the trouble

It's a bit pedantic at the beginning, but when he defines it as "transgressiveness or willingness to transgress," it becomes much more clear. That's the trouble with great ideas in blogs. Here's the essence of it: "If you tell people "the only way to contact me is to break a rule" you will only be contacted by rule-breakers. But wait, it can get worse. If, despite telling everyone to use the departmental email address, Fred personally handles – expedites – the requests of people who email him at his personal email account, he is now rewarding those who transgress. So far, I've been talking about being an asshole (or not) – that is, transgressiveness – as a fixed trait. But that's not how personality works, even assuming it is a personality trait. If it is a personality trait then it's more like a "set point" for something that varies with circumstances. Which means if you reward it, you will get more of it."