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by jackblemming 1510 days ago
Shockingly, there's plenty of competent CEOs who aren't assholes, but we don't idolize them because Americans love the idea of the genius asshole.
2 comments

yeah , agreed -- but that doesn't really say anything about parents' point.

in fact it makes just as much sense totally flipped -- lots of highly effective people who have been successful in this world have had terrible interpersonal skills.

Presumably the point being made is that interpersonal skill doesn't predict success in business 1:1, and that deciding to throw a portion of applicants out due to perceived social issues is necessarily throwing out some thorny individuals with fantastic individual ability for the sake of the herd.

I can't say whether or not that's good or bad -- but as someone with terrible interpersonal skills myself I tend to hope that someone would alert me to my individual faux pas rather than silently ridding themselves of my presence all together.

Warren Buffett being a model example of a non-asshole CEO. Same with Kenneth Chenault at American Express, Indra Nooyi at Pepsi, and countless others.
Also Oprah Winfrey. Reports are that her public persona (warm, charismatic, friendly) is genuine.
I think all of those people are socially competent enough to mold the most efficient persona for any scenario.