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phil pfp
phil
@phil
Why do so many famous Founders have a reputation for being complete assholes to their employees? Elon, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc. Were they successful because of this behavior, or in spite of it?
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Nicholas Charriere pfp
Nicholas Charriere
@pushix
Maybe we remember them as they were towards the end, or the peak of their success. Often times at that point ego has blown the fuck up and feedback loops have gone wrong. Maybe if you look at their first 5 years it looks different.
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Justin Hunter
@polluterofminds
Slowly coming around to the idea that it was less about being assholes and more about not accepting mediocrity. Loosely held opinion currently though.
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Joe Blau 🎩 pfp
Joe Blau 🎩
@joeblau
If you have an opinion about something and you're not willing to concede, people think you're an asshole — doesn't even matter if you're right in the end.
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Aaina
@aaina
That frame is the problem and reflects a weak culture in decline. Mainstream US society brands conflict and disagreement as wrong or distasteful. In reality, it reflects the intimacy and will necessary to acheive anything. Confrontation fuels growth, truth, agility, innovation. If you can’t spar, you have nothing.
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qw
@qw
I read Elon and Jobs’ biography. Hunch is *in spite of* of the asshole-ness, but *because of* setting high bars and high expectations.
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stringtheory pfp
stringtheory
@stringtheory69
i think to be a great founder you can really only care about the outcome of the company and that means there are a lot of casualties along the way that stubbornness / ruthlessness is most likely fundamental
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Daniel Lombraña
@teleyinex.eth
There are many more nice founders that we don't know at all because their ego is fine. The ones you mentioned have had always a media side that brings the headlines.
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Phil Cockfield
@pjc
As an inverse dataset, what's the counterpoint? What famous founders were (or are) deeply loved by their employees? One well loved dude I can think of is Patrick Collison. Also, Sam Altman fared pretty well over the weekend. (on the asshole side ↑, my feeling is that it's "in spite of" but with nuanced caveats).
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kbc
@kbc
Because hearing of non-asshole founders gets less traction i ok n social media? Employees love working at Doist. Completely bootstrapped, async work culture
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nalo
@nalo
https://warpcast.com/cassie/0x70103d80
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Alexej Gerstmaier
@alexejgerstmaier
I think the best example of a founder being successful *because* of his assholeness is Larry Ellison
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arturwdowiarski.eth
@artur-wdowiarski
I think the gospel answer to that is that taking a company from the start to the hundreds of billions of $ in cap takes focus, dedication and a certain level of ruthlessness. I also think that focusing only on those few guys when talking about “great” founders is not very useful.
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Shin
@hiteam
Someone told me Managers who aren't hated aren't good managers
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applefather.eth
@applefather.eth
My ideas: great founders and being unkind to employees are not necessarily correlated. A great founder does their best for the company. As for those who are unkind to their employees, it's uncertain whether it's bad or good for the company. And there are many great founders who are not assholes.
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