Do I have to be a dickhead to be a world class leader/run a world class company?

[Magnanimous]

I've seen so many videos exposing Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerburg for their extremely harsh leadership styles on their employees. And not just their leadership but some very damaging decisions towards employees and business partners like diluting shares, threatening to pull ads if a deal doesn't go through, etc.

I'm worried as I think I wanna be a world class leader myself with a world class company. Can I really make it world class in both if I'm not an asshole?

[Miguel1]

If you want to be a leader at that scale, then yes you need to be ruthless. You don’t get that huge by being a conscious and a loving leader. It’s survival on steroids up there.

That being said, Obama was a more empathetic leader. And the good thing is, no one really needs to be a leader at that scale to be a ’world class’.

It just depends on how you define it. Sadhguru to me is a world class leader. But so is Leo with his tiny following base.

 

[Magnanimous]

47 minutes ago, Miguel1 said:

If you want to be a leader at that scale, then yes you need to be ruthless. You don’t get that huge by being a conscious and a loving leader. It’s survival on steroids up there.

That being said, Obama was a more empathetic leader. And the good thing is, no one really needs to be a leader at that scale to be a ’world class’.

It just depends on how you define it. Sadhguru to me is a world class leader. But so is Leo with his tiny following base.

 

@Miguel1Well if we're just concerned with being a world class leader ALONE - so not taking a desire to have a world class company into account - I don't have to be that ruthless?

[Elliott]

What industry, what are you selling?

The reason those guys were like that is because they were selling products that were actually meaningless. If you come up with an actually meaningful business you wouldn't need to do that. Sell organic food with revolutionary holistic cultivation practices, find an inspired team to work with, and you can do it. Sell something just to sell something, you'll need to be a strong villain, because you are a villain.