Not disagreeing with you, but there are also leaders like Jobs, Gates, Ellison etc. How come they are able to get amazing results, while being really nasty to their people?
The problem is with the people that try to emulate leaders like that - they try to play Steve Jobs in meetings and end up causing all of the damage without any of the greatness.
There is a Bill Gates quote (I read it on the "Becoming Steve Jobs" biography that was recently published) : "Lots of people want to be like Steve. They have got the asshole part down pat. All they are missing is the genius part.".
Can you explain why you say that? It seems you're suggesting that there is in fact a correlation between genius, or at least effective management, and unkindness. Is that what you meant? If so, why?
I can see how high high achievers could tend to be extremely focused and driven, which in some cases would present in this way. I wouldn't expect it to be the norm though; do you believe otherwise? How do you know?
I guess the parent is saying that there are lots of people with nasty behavior who are successful - may be not bill gates level successful, but successful nevertheless. Just a guess though
We'll probably never know the truth of the management styles of Jobs, Gates, et al. Only those that worked for them directly will know, and even then the memory will be colored by later events. Something to keep in mind.
Positions of power have a lot of leeway. If you're the big boss, people can't do much to remove you. It's different if you're trying to climb the corporate ladder; there are a lot of people ready and able to stomp on your fingers and knock you down a few rungs at the slightest offense.
It's so unfortunate that being nasty works for those guys. I've seen so many people who effectively equate Apple's success to "the leader of Apple being an arsehole" and decide they too want to be Steve Jobs.
I am of the (entirely uneducated) opinion that Jobs wasn't successful because he was an arsehole, but that he could only get away with being an arsehole because he was so successful.
Sheer charisma? Also, different people respond better to different kinds of leadership and motivation. This gets talked about a lot in the context of coaches of professional sports teams.
When you're running a business, you can probably afford to be a jerk as long as the small group of people closest to you can tolerate it.
