[mattsfrey]

I think people that do serious business consistently over time in the single minded pursuit of wealth just tend to be megalomaniacal assholes by nature, especially at that level. In general there are good sources to point towards lavish praise and constructive criticism as being better recipes for boosting employee productivity, so any success in that arena is probably despite their character traits, not because of them. Of course when it comes down to brass tacks and making decisions, you have to be ruthlessly objective, so these traits would be useful there.

[judk]

Even if it would be better to treat staff well, it is likely to me that abusing external partners and the law and other externalities is profit generating.