4 ms·

I would add politeness. Not sure about Linus, though...

by exim 15y ago

akira2501 15y ago
Leadership doesn't require politeness. Fairness is probably what you really want.
- aiscott 15y ago
  I agree, fairness over politeness. I would say honesty over politeness as well. That isn't to say you shouldn't be polite; just realize that sometimes your decisions are going to hurt people no matter how nicely you put it.
- tsunamifury 15y ago
  I think this is a good point. I don't want people to be needlessly polite, I want them to be truthful in a manner that is also respectful.
ajross 15y ago
He's nicer than Jobs, at least.
- microtherion 15y ago
  Granted, Jobs was not always a nice person behind closed doors. However, at least during his Apple 2.0 days, he did NOT trash the people working for him in public the way Linus habitually does. Another difference is that a lot of people working for Jobs (again, at least during the Apple 2.0 days) made f* you money for their efforts. There are engineers making a living working on Linux, but not on that scale, I think.
  - ajross 15y ago
    He also didn't praise people working for him in public. Or mention people working for him in public. At all. Are you sure you aren't mistaking silence for civility?
    - ugh 15y ago
      Steve Jobs regularily praised the people working for Apple, sometimes as a group, sometimes by name. Watch any Keynote to see that.
  - dedward 15y ago
    Are any of these people working for Linus? Is he paying them? Are they not free to fork off their own kernel tree if they don't like the way he maintains his? Jobs was running a company, and paying people directly for results..... (all other judgement aside)
notatoad 15y ago
linus has charisma, which trumps politeness. people love him for his rudeness.
bitwize 15y ago
Linus has to his credit the fact that he's less of an a-hole than, say, Theo de Raadt. Though I'm not so sure I want Nice Guys(tm) writing my software...
- Schmidt 15y ago
  But, comparing anyone to de Raadt is easy :D

I would add politeness. Not sure about Linus, though...

by exim 15y ago

I would add politeness. Not sure about Linus, though...

akira2501 15y ago

Leadership doesn't require politeness. Fairness is probably what you really want.

aiscott 15y ago
I agree, fairness over politeness. I would say honesty over politeness as well. That isn't to say you shouldn't be polite; just realize that sometimes your decisions are going to hurt people no matter how nicely you put it.
tsunamifury 15y ago
I think this is a good point. I don't want people to be needlessly polite, I want them to be truthful in a manner that is also respectful.

ajross 15y ago

He's nicer than Jobs, at least.

microtherion 15y ago
Granted, Jobs was not always a nice person behind closed doors. However, at least during his Apple 2.0 days, he did NOT trash the people working for him in public the way Linus habitually does. Another difference is that a lot of people working for Jobs (again, at least during the Apple 2.0 days) made f* you money for their efforts. There are engineers making a living working on Linux, but not on that scale, I think.
- ajross 15y ago
  He also didn't praise people working for him in public. Or mention people working for him in public. At all. Are you sure you aren't mistaking silence for civility?
  - ugh 15y ago
    Steve Jobs regularily praised the people working for Apple, sometimes as a group, sometimes by name. Watch any Keynote to see that.
- dedward 15y ago
  Are any of these people working for Linus? Is he paying them? Are they not free to fork off their own kernel tree if they don't like the way he maintains his? Jobs was running a company, and paying people directly for results..... (all other judgement aside)

notatoad 15y ago

linus has charisma, which trumps politeness. people love him for his rudeness.

bitwize 15y ago

Linus has to his credit the fact that he's less of an a-hole than, say, Theo de Raadt. Though I'm not so sure I want Nice Guys(tm) writing my software...

Schmidt 15y ago
But, comparing anyone to de Raadt is easy :D