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US business culture has two leadership archetypes: The brilliant asshole and the kind uncle who leads by example (think Steve Jobs and Tim Cook). Despite there

US business culture has two leadership archetypes: The brilliant asshole and the kind uncle who leads by example (think Steve Jobs and Tim Cook). Despite there being two archetypes, asshole culture is endemic in American business. Why is that? My theory is that more often than not, the kind fatherly leader relies on a cadre of assholes to do his job for him. Elsewhere in this thread there is the example of Ed Catmull and John Lasseter that reinforces my impression.

watwut 6y ago
Because the kind uncle is not leadership archetype that would be praised. It might been in the past, but not anymore. Th asshole is praised as leader, is assumed to have greater technical skills, is generally rewarded.
brlewis 6y ago
> asshole culture is endemic in American business Is it really endemic, or do isolated cases get undue attention? A mutual fund portfolio manager once told me she would avoid investing in companies where the CEO was an asshole, because such people end up surrounded by others eager to see them fail.
bsder 6y ago
To me it's not about being an asshole, it's about being an asshole when there is no reason to be. I'm not going to go around being a jerk, but if I see somebody getting stepped on unjustly, I'm going to step in. That sets me up as an asshole to about 10-15% of the human population that I refer to as "social manipulators". They're very good at getting their way because most people simply won't oppose them. Those people bounce off me like a brick wall, and they detest it. They consider me an asshole and vice versa and we avoid one another. In addition, I try really hard not to be a jerk when I'm genuinely angry (and that happpens VERY rarely--I think I can count purple face/seeing red rage about 3 times in my entire life). I leave and cool down because I'm likely to do something really stupid otherwise.
nemothekid 6y ago
My theory is that the brilliant asshole just tends to gravitate toward the limelight. In other words they are also very self-congratulatory and therefore market themselves better. Look at a FAAMG - of the acronym, I would only consider Jobs a "brillant" asshole and maybe Bezos (although he seems way more dogmatic than an asshole). Despite all being incredibly companies, Jobs is by and far the most famous.
- nickysielicki 6y ago
  What? Bill Gates was ruthless. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/gates-is-a-ruthless-schemer-says-his-microsoft-co-founder-2257843.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/gates-is-a-ru...
saagarjha 6y ago
I have no personal experience to back this up, but I have heard that while Tim Cook doesn't berate people like Steve Jobs did, he can be cold to them.

watwut 6y ago

Because the kind uncle is not leadership archetype that would be praised. It might been in the past, but not anymore. Th asshole is praised as leader, is assumed to have greater technical skills, is generally rewarded.

brlewis 6y ago

> asshole culture is endemic in American business Is it really endemic, or do isolated cases get undue attention? A mutual fund portfolio manager once told me she would avoid investing in companies where the CEO was an asshole, because such people end up surrounded by others eager to see them fail.

bsder 6y ago

To me it's not about being an asshole, it's about being an asshole when there is no reason to be. I'm not going to go around being a jerk, but if I see somebody getting stepped on unjustly, I'm going to step in. That sets me up as an asshole to about 10-15% of the human population that I refer to as "social manipulators". They're very good at getting their way because most people simply won't oppose them. Those people bounce off me like a brick wall, and they detest it. They consider me an asshole and vice versa and we avoid one another. In addition, I try really hard not to be a jerk when I'm genuinely angry (and that happpens VERY rarely--I think I can count purple face/seeing red rage about 3 times in my entire life). I leave and cool down because I'm likely to do something really stupid otherwise.

nemothekid 6y ago

My theory is that the brilliant asshole just tends to gravitate toward the limelight. In other words they are also very self-congratulatory and therefore market themselves better. Look at a FAAMG - of the acronym, I would only consider Jobs a "brillant" asshole and maybe Bezos (although he seems way more dogmatic than an asshole). Despite all being incredibly companies, Jobs is by and far the most famous.

nickysielicki 6y ago
What? Bill Gates was ruthless. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/gates-is-a-ruthless-schemer-says-his-microsoft-co-founder-2257843.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/gates-is-a-ru...

saagarjha 6y ago

I have no personal experience to back this up, but I have heard that while Tim Cook doesn't berate people like Steve Jobs did, he can be cold to them.