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The incredible success that he has enjoyed is a marvel to anyone familiar with the accepted literature on what it takes to make a great leader, qualities like e

The incredible success that he has enjoyed is a marvel to anyone familiar with the accepted literature on what it takes to make a great leader, qualities like empathy, mediation skills and humility. ... “It’s very unpopular to say in today’s world, where we have these Kumbaya theories of leadership,” says Pfeffer, “but it actually doesn’t work well.” Exactly. The lesson here is that many management books contain mainly "leadership fantasies."[1] More from Pfeffer at the link. [1] http://www.overcomingbias.com/2014/03/leadership-fantasies.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2014/03/leadership-fantasies.h...

davidw 12y ago
The thing that's scary about this is that pretty much anyone can be an asshole, and I worry about people doing just that in their attempts to emulate people like Ellison, and Jobs. Odds are, they'll certainly get the jerk part right, but probably won't create a huge company or great products.
- rquantz 12y ago
  You don't have to worry about that, because it's already happening. I see them everywhere. They wear all black. They write in all lowercase. They've seen The Social Network a million times and think that's what life is really like. The good news is, in a real company this behavior is usually recognized and isolated fairly quickly... unless it's not.
  - christiansmith 12y ago
    Some of them write in all uppercase. I'm not joking or being sarcastic. If you run across someone who's a little too happy with the caps lock key... run like your life depends on it.
    - rquantz 12y ago
      I know those guys too! Although I find it tends to be an age thing. The middle aged asshole writes in all caps, the 20 year old asshole writes in all lowercase.
Zigurd 12y ago
Stuff like that works until it rather abruptly stops working. Charlie Wang was a genius, until he suddenly wasn't.
3pt14159 12y ago
Being an asshole doesn't work with knowledge workers. It might for sweatshops and farm hands, but I've worked for a CEO that acted as an asshole while on the job. I was another C level. When I left so did half the company because everyone knew he was being unreasonable and too much of a bully.
- DanBC 12y ago
  Sweatshop workers know very well how to subtly sabotage production for bad bosses. Machines break more often, materials go missing, tools are misused or stolen, drawings are creatively interpreted, electricity supplies are disrupted, tea breaks take a bit longer. People might be at their bench on time, and might look like they're starting work, but they will be doing more "preparation" at the start of the day and more "clean down" at the end of the day. And once it starts with a couple of people it's hard to stop, especially with bad bosses.
- discreteevent 12y ago
  That's the thing. You need to have an awful lot of money that you can throw at people if you want to be an asshole and continue to succeed. Otherwise what happens in any kind of free society is that the best people leave. That's why it's hilarious to watch people who are starting off behaving this way. In general though, those guys usually aren't the brightest.

davidw 12y ago

The thing that's scary about this is that pretty much anyone can be an asshole, and I worry about people doing just that in their attempts to emulate people like Ellison, and Jobs. Odds are, they'll certainly get the jerk part right, but probably won't create a huge company or great products.

rquantz 12y ago
You don't have to worry about that, because it's already happening. I see them everywhere. They wear all black. They write in all lowercase. They've seen The Social Network a million times and think that's what life is really like. The good news is, in a real company this behavior is usually recognized and isolated fairly quickly... unless it's not.
- christiansmith 12y ago
  Some of them write in all uppercase. I'm not joking or being sarcastic. If you run across someone who's a little too happy with the caps lock key... run like your life depends on it.
  - rquantz 12y ago
    I know those guys too! Although I find it tends to be an age thing. The middle aged asshole writes in all caps, the 20 year old asshole writes in all lowercase.

Zigurd 12y ago

Stuff like that works until it rather abruptly stops working. Charlie Wang was a genius, until he suddenly wasn't.

3pt14159 12y ago

Being an asshole doesn't work with knowledge workers. It might for sweatshops and farm hands, but I've worked for a CEO that acted as an asshole while on the job. I was another C level. When I left so did half the company because everyone knew he was being unreasonable and too much of a bully.

DanBC 12y ago
Sweatshop workers know very well how to subtly sabotage production for bad bosses. Machines break more often, materials go missing, tools are misused or stolen, drawings are creatively interpreted, electricity supplies are disrupted, tea breaks take a bit longer. People might be at their bench on time, and might look like they're starting work, but they will be doing more "preparation" at the start of the day and more "clean down" at the end of the day. And once it starts with a couple of people it's hard to stop, especially with bad bosses.
discreteevent 12y ago
That's the thing. You need to have an awful lot of money that you can throw at people if you want to be an asshole and continue to succeed. Otherwise what happens in any kind of free society is that the best people leave. That's why it's hilarious to watch people who are starting off behaving this way. In general though, those guys usually aren't the brightest.