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Absolutely. A big part of the problem with many projects, or even companies, is that leadership is too soft and so you end up surrounded by incompetent individ

Absolutely. A big part of the problem with many projects, or even companies, is that leadership is too soft and so you end up surrounded by incompetent individuals who either through delusion, or Dunning Kruger, have difficulty assessing their own ability. This results in incredibly inefficient and 'noisy' (as in signal:noise ratio) working environments. 'Hard' leadership gets rid of the slack and is willing to tell people when they're screwing up. This means you're going to be surrounded by the best, and anybody that's not carrying 100% of their weight is going to get removed. Of course you can have a problem there if the leadership is brutal and incompetent, but brutal and competent is a phenomenally desirable mix -- and that really sums up Linus, perhaps to extreme on both sides of the equation. And in my opinion that really sums up many of the most successful leaders, both past and present. Though of course one huge difference between a Steve Jobs and a Torvalds is that Linus' work and behavior is, like Linux, completely open. Steve Jobs' was able to keep his persona restrained to within corporate avenues, with the rest of the world shown an extremely sculpted and fake image, the depths of contrast between the two only coming out after his death.

marmot777 8y ago
There are plenty of examples of great leaders who were direct, driven, and hard, yet still treated people with respect. It's not an easy trick to pull of, which is why people like Steve Jobs just said fuck it.
- Lio 8y ago
  Could you post a few examples? Woz seems like a nice guy and Warren Buffet likewise. Both seems to have worked in small teams.
  - marmot777 8y ago
    What are Larry Page and Sergey Brin's reputation in this regard? Since we're talking about the open source world, how about Guido van Rossum? Paul Graham seems like he's probably a direct yet civil guy. http://paulgraham.com/safe.html http://paulgraham.com/safe.html Elon Musk isn't abusive. He extremely driven and demanding but that's not the same as abusive. I could expand the list quite a bit if you want but do you really believe it'd be a challenge for me to list important leaders who aren't assholes? BTW, I don't know these people so I might get it wrong regarding some of the people I'd list.
    - TangoTrotFox 8y ago
      Googlers/Xooglers describe Larry Page as "rude" "egomaniacal" "jerk". [1] And fitting the typical pattern, the same individuals also describe him as "brilliant", an "intellectually honest person" and with a "vision stronger than arguably anyone in the industry." The reason you listed Brin and Page is because you know nothing about them outside of their carefully crafted public personas, which again tend to contrast quite starkly to these individuals' private behavior. But with Linus he acts as he is rather than crafting some fake public persona. --- As an aside, this is all very reminiscent of politics. We collectively claim we absolutely hate politicians who give nonanswers or focus tested and completely 'fake' responses to practically everything. Yet oddly enough, these people make up very near 100% of all politicians elected. Why might this be? It's because when we find a politician that does actually give his honest view on things we freak out and look for somebody 'better'. And who's better? The liar that tells you what you want to hear, instead of what he really thinks. And we get people that are smiles and honey on the surface, and two-faced corrupt liars on the inside. And then we act confused about why what they do and what they say don't match up. [1] - https://www.businessinsider.com/googlers-say-larry-page-is-a-rude-egomanical-jerk-who-is-an-intellectually-honest-visionary-2011-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/googlers-say-larry-page-is-a...
      - marmot777 8y ago
        Your article cites examples of behavior that wasn't abusive just essentric and annoying. These guys seem fine. I wasn't trying to list saints.
        TangoTrotFox 8y ago
        I'd expect that anecdote was not the reason for the declarations. The vast majority of Googlers will never have any 'real' interaction with Page/Brin, thus giving intimate examples of their behavior in private would be unwise. I think this is part of the reason that the flood gates for Jobs only opened once he died a premature death.
        8y ago
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]

marmot777 8y ago

There are plenty of examples of great leaders who were direct, driven, and hard, yet still treated people with respect. It's not an easy trick to pull of, which is why people like Steve Jobs just said fuck it.

Lio 8y ago
Could you post a few examples? Woz seems like a nice guy and Warren Buffet likewise. Both seems to have worked in small teams.
- marmot777 8y ago
  What are Larry Page and Sergey Brin's reputation in this regard? Since we're talking about the open source world, how about Guido van Rossum? Paul Graham seems like he's probably a direct yet civil guy. http://paulgraham.com/safe.html http://paulgraham.com/safe.html Elon Musk isn't abusive. He extremely driven and demanding but that's not the same as abusive. I could expand the list quite a bit if you want but do you really believe it'd be a challenge for me to list important leaders who aren't assholes? BTW, I don't know these people so I might get it wrong regarding some of the people I'd list.
  - TangoTrotFox 8y ago
    Googlers/Xooglers describe Larry Page as "rude" "egomaniacal" "jerk". [1] And fitting the typical pattern, the same individuals also describe him as "brilliant", an "intellectually honest person" and with a "vision stronger than arguably anyone in the industry." The reason you listed Brin and Page is because you know nothing about them outside of their carefully crafted public personas, which again tend to contrast quite starkly to these individuals' private behavior. But with Linus he acts as he is rather than crafting some fake public persona. --- As an aside, this is all very reminiscent of politics. We collectively claim we absolutely hate politicians who give nonanswers or focus tested and completely 'fake' responses to practically everything. Yet oddly enough, these people make up very near 100% of all politicians elected. Why might this be? It's because when we find a politician that does actually give his honest view on things we freak out and look for somebody 'better'. And who's better? The liar that tells you what you want to hear, instead of what he really thinks. And we get people that are smiles and honey on the surface, and two-faced corrupt liars on the inside. And then we act confused about why what they do and what they say don't match up. [1] - https://www.businessinsider.com/googlers-say-larry-page-is-a-rude-egomanical-jerk-who-is-an-intellectually-honest-visionary-2011-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/googlers-say-larry-page-is-a...
    - marmot777 8y ago
      Your article cites examples of behavior that wasn't abusive just essentric and annoying. These guys seem fine. I wasn't trying to list saints.
      - TangoTrotFox 8y ago
        I'd expect that anecdote was not the reason for the declarations. The vast majority of Googlers will never have any 'real' interaction with Page/Brin, thus giving intimate examples of their behavior in private would be unwise. I think this is part of the reason that the flood gates for Jobs only opened once he died a premature death.
        8y ago
- deleted 8y ago
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