Having read Snowball (the biography of Warren Buffet), I would not be so sure he isn't disagreeable. Clearly, this is a guy who is so focused on his goals that

Having read Snowball (the biography of Warren Buffet), I would not be so sure he isn't disagreeable. Clearly, this is a guy who is so focused on his goals that everything else and everyone else in his life took a back seat. He does not come across as a malicious person but clearly not a "nice" person. The terminology used in the article ("disagreeable", "mean", etc) is imho too emotionally loaded for proper understanding of the phenomenon. Most people reading this article see the takeaway as "assholes finish first" and are (rightly so) conflicted about trading their souls for a couple gold coins. The real lesson, I think, is to realize that to get anything significant done, you will eventually have to piss off some people you care about at some point. They could be your employees, partners, customers or even family. But this is alright, we piss each off all the time. It's ok, it's a part of life. Just don't be a jerk about it.