5 ms·

RMS is great leader, but apparently horrible manager. Leaders must have passion, not be just mindless MBA drones. Even though I usually disagree with his visio

RMS is great leader, but apparently horrible manager. Leaders must have passion, not be just mindless MBA drones. Even though I usually disagree with his vision of how software should be made, I feel sorry for him being target of this insane witch hunt.

why_Mr_Anderson 6y ago
Hahaha, keep the downvotes coming! Get that uncomfortable truth out of of sight -> out of mind.
olliej 6y ago
a "great leader" also needs to be able to manage people. If you're passionate but spend your time being abusive to others then you're not a leader, you're a dictator. And that is what RMS is - we've seen time and time again he expects his opinion to be the law, and anyone with whom he disagrees is wrong and should themselves be expelled.
- why_Mr_Anderson 6y ago
  No, great leader must recognize his weaknesses and hire people to compensate for them. If you think leaders/owners of big companies are not dictators, I have a bridge to sell to you.
  - Denvercoder9 6y ago
    > No, great leader must recognize his weaknesses and hire people to compensate for them. Which he didn't do.
    - Daho0n 6y ago
      What does everyone else do? https://www.fsf.org/about/staff-and-board/ https://www.fsf.org/about/staff-and-board/
  - notriddle 6y ago
    > No, great leader must recognize his weaknesses and hire people to compensate for them. Hell yeah. And RMS didn't do that.
    - why_Mr_Anderson 6y ago
      Apparently not. But wasn't he out of FSF for a long time and only recently came back?
      - notriddle 6y ago
        Sept 2019: https://lwn.net/Articles/799375/ https://lwn.net/Articles/799375/
- newsclues 6y ago
  I think with sufficient leadership and charisma you can attract managers to allow you to focus on your vision while they organize it’s execution. I’m sure there are good ideas but all I can think of is cult leaders.
- Daho0n 6y ago
  So to be clear would you categories Steve Jobs as "a great leader" or "a dictator"? Because he fell between your two chairs being both extremely abusive but were also able to manage people.
  - danaris 6y ago
    He's a very interesting case that probably gets to be classified as both. He produced amazing results. He's definitely not someone I would ever recommend attempting to emulate in general. These two facts can both be true at the same time. He was an extremely polarizing figure. Importantly, though, from what I've heard (so take with appropriate seasoning), his worst excesses were more toward the earlier parts of his career, and as he got older, he became less abusive and unreasonable, while honing his visionary side. If he had lived to today, he might have changed how people think about him.... ...or he might have shown himself to be just as bad as the worst people think, and been "canceled" himself.
Rochus 6y ago
> RMS is great leader And for some undoubtedly a role model in culinary and behavioral respects.
- AnimalMuppet 6y ago
  He's not leading a culinary institute. We don't need him to be a culinary role model. He's leading human beings? The behavioral aspects do in fact matter.
  - Rochus 6y ago
    > He's not leading a culinary institute No, but he is nevertheless an expert for certain culinary specialities (see e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25UeVXrEHQ#t=1m46s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25UeVXrEHQ#t=1m46s). Essentially, of course, this is also about good manners. Anyway, it seems to be a law of nature that a guru will always find suitable devotees.
cbm-vic-20 6y ago
RMS is a great visionary: his greatest contribution has been the formation of the FSF and the GPL, and evangelizing them. However, does the FSF need RMS anymore? Or is it better off without him?
- ipsocannibal 6y ago
  This is a great question. What is the cost/benefit to the mission of the FSF of keeping RMS in a leadership position? I guess this depends on the stated mission of the FSF. If its evangelizing for software freedom then RMS himself is too much of the story to do that effectively anymore I think. If its to promote RMS and give him a platform then he must stay. If its to do practical organizational work to support free software projects then RMS is easily replacable. If its to write free software the last I checked RMS really hasn't contributed much in the way of code in years.

why_Mr_Anderson 6y ago

Hahaha, keep the downvotes coming! Get that uncomfortable truth out of of sight -> out of mind.

olliej 6y ago

a "great leader" also needs to be able to manage people. If you're passionate but spend your time being abusive to others then you're not a leader, you're a dictator. And that is what RMS is - we've seen time and time again he expects his opinion to be the law, and anyone with whom he disagrees is wrong and should themselves be expelled.

why_Mr_Anderson 6y ago
No, great leader must recognize his weaknesses and hire people to compensate for them. If you think leaders/owners of big companies are not dictators, I have a bridge to sell to you.
- Denvercoder9 6y ago
  > No, great leader must recognize his weaknesses and hire people to compensate for them. Which he didn't do.
  - Daho0n 6y ago
    What does everyone else do? https://www.fsf.org/about/staff-and-board/ https://www.fsf.org/about/staff-and-board/
- notriddle 6y ago
  > No, great leader must recognize his weaknesses and hire people to compensate for them. Hell yeah. And RMS didn't do that.
  - why_Mr_Anderson 6y ago
    Apparently not. But wasn't he out of FSF for a long time and only recently came back?
    - notriddle 6y ago
      Sept 2019: https://lwn.net/Articles/799375/ https://lwn.net/Articles/799375/
newsclues 6y ago
I think with sufficient leadership and charisma you can attract managers to allow you to focus on your vision while they organize it’s execution. I’m sure there are good ideas but all I can think of is cult leaders.
Daho0n 6y ago
So to be clear would you categories Steve Jobs as "a great leader" or "a dictator"? Because he fell between your two chairs being both extremely abusive but were also able to manage people.
- danaris 6y ago
  He's a very interesting case that probably gets to be classified as both. He produced amazing results. He's definitely not someone I would ever recommend attempting to emulate in general. These two facts can both be true at the same time. He was an extremely polarizing figure. Importantly, though, from what I've heard (so take with appropriate seasoning), his worst excesses were more toward the earlier parts of his career, and as he got older, he became less abusive and unreasonable, while honing his visionary side. If he had lived to today, he might have changed how people think about him.... ...or he might have shown himself to be just as bad as the worst people think, and been "canceled" himself.

Rochus 6y ago

> RMS is great leader And for some undoubtedly a role model in culinary and behavioral respects.

AnimalMuppet 6y ago
He's not leading a culinary institute. We don't need him to be a culinary role model. He's leading human beings? The behavioral aspects do in fact matter.
- Rochus 6y ago
  > He's not leading a culinary institute No, but he is nevertheless an expert for certain culinary specialities (see e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25UeVXrEHQ#t=1m46s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25UeVXrEHQ#t=1m46s). Essentially, of course, this is also about good manners. Anyway, it seems to be a law of nature that a guru will always find suitable devotees.

cbm-vic-20 6y ago

RMS is a great visionary: his greatest contribution has been the formation of the FSF and the GPL, and evangelizing them. However, does the FSF need RMS anymore? Or is it better off without him?

ipsocannibal 6y ago
This is a great question. What is the cost/benefit to the mission of the FSF of keeping RMS in a leadership position? I guess this depends on the stated mission of the FSF. If its evangelizing for software freedom then RMS himself is too much of the story to do that effectively anymore I think. If its to promote RMS and give him a platform then he must stay. If its to do practical organizational work to support free software projects then RMS is easily replacable. If its to write free software the last I checked RMS really hasn't contributed much in the way of code in years.