[abullinan]

It takes a village. Also to be successful in tech it takes an asshole. No way around it. At some point all successful companies share an overly aggressive visionary. The entire company doesn’t need to be toxic, but the apex does. If you don’t like it, don’t climb the ladder.

[IshKebab]

I don't think it requires being an arsehole. Just being firm. That doesn't require arseholery.

[elzbardico]

People will call someone who doesn't bend to the status quo an asshole.

[leoc]

Both your statement and IshKebab's are true.

[eru]

No. Not necessarily.

There's plenty of people described as 'quiet and polite, but firm' or some similar variations.

[qmr]

What founders / CEOs can you name described by those qualities?

[eru]

I'm not sure you need to restrict yourself to these. You can also look at eg political leaders.

Lee Kuan Yew is one example that comes to mind immediately. Warren Buffett might be a good example from the world of business.

(Your favourite search engine or chatbot is probably more than happy to give you a steady stream of other examples.)

[leoc]

I don't know, maybe he wouldn't raise his voice, but I can't imagine it would be fun to be a subordinate of LKY at the moment he decided you were wasting his time.

[abullinan]

Warren Buffet is a very carefully crafted “aww shucks” persona. He’s spent megabucks inventing it and keeping it safe. And I lose the argument because I cannot find the article from a decade ago that really dug into it. Either SEO has vanished it or he has it removed.

[leoc]

Digital's Ken Olsen is probably one of the most relevant examples. Though it probably helped that Olsen was largely working with the grain at DEC, building digital playsets which engineers themselves loved, rather than constantly forcing them to adopt a non-technical consumer's perspective.

[sixo]

Skill issue. There are other ways to get those results, but being an asshole is the lowest-hanging, and is nearly free if the people around you don't have the self-respect to walk away.

[abullinan]

I disagree. Point to a centibillion+ company that isn’t fronted by a toxic asshole.

[ttoinou]

Surely there must be some counter examples. Collison brothers at Stripe ?

[stripe_away]

I guess you never worked at Stripe.