For all that, they were arguably more tolerant than other social groups/societies of their time period and ran their empire, short lived as it was, like a sort

For all that, they were arguably more tolerant than other social groups/societies of their time period and ran their empire, short lived as it was, like a sort of shared commercial enterprise, which tends to appear weirdly modern. And arguably, many of their conquests, as violent as they were, descend from said conquests' previous leadership acting like utter morons, regardless of our modern perspective of distaste on demands for tribute. That said, most of their societal potential for "modernity" started devolving the moment Genghis died. But it's not like conquest was missing from the behavior of most other pre-modern societies.