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Alan Levenson
larry-ellison
There is no question that the tech world is filled with Grade A jerks. The most revered man in Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs, is the patron saint of all of them. Being a bastard in the service of perfection is an acceptable way to go, according to many a tech CEO’s playbook – just look at what Jobs accomplished.
But what to make then, of two recent high-profile firings? First there was Scott Forstall, Mr. Apple iOS, shown the door last month following the launch of iOS 6. And this week, Microsoft sent Steven Sinofsky, the chief architect of Windows 8, packing. The new operating system has been billed as the most ambitious, most important step for Microsoft since Windows 95, and you dropkick its boss?
The commonality between the two men goes deeper than the launch of two important operating systems. By most accounts, both men were hard-driving, perfection-oriented, uncompromising, narcissistic fellows – a huge pain in the arse would be another way to sum it up, as some of their colleagues have done.
Does that mean the way of the tantrum-tossing, egomaniacal boss is on the way out? Are Apple and Microsoft leading the tech industry to some kumbaya future? It’s not quite time to start baking your celebratory cupcakes, says Robert Sutton, a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford and the author of The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t.
"A single-minded focus on excellence and nothing else in Silicon Valley can be very effective, especially if you mix in there some skill and taste,” Sutton says. “But when you are an asshole, your enemies are lying in wait. When you have performance issues then they come and shoot you."
It’s a dynamic as old as Julius Caesar, Sutton notes.
Carly Fiorina certainly fits that profile. Steve Jobs the first time around does too. Michael Eisner, thanks to Jobs, got shanked after some wobbles at Disney. In the case of Forstall, Siri and the Apple maps debacle didn’t do him any favors. And while it is too early to call Windows 8 a flop, Windows RT hasn’t been lighting the world on fire. If nothing else, Microsoft’s whole confusing jumble of marketing around Windows 8 and its various permutations has been a shambles. Hello Mr. Sinofsky, Mr. Ballmer wants to see you.
But being a tough boss has its place in the highly competitive tech world. Those people who are always interrupting, grabbing the attention or sitting there with an angry scowl during meetings are often thought of as “leader” material. To take power and keep it, it often helps to have a bit of the bastard in you. And as many a jerky boss have proved, it can also create billions in wealth, for the jerk and investors.
The lesson of Forstall and Sinofsky is that brilliance and toughness can take you far, but there is no room for error. Jobs knew when to turn his perfection-at-all-costs personality off; he could woo reporters and partners one minute, and humiliate his underlings the next. If Jobs had launched a clunker before his death you can bet his enemies would have come pouring out of their cubicles to crow about it.
"If you are an asshole you had better be a great performer because you are creating enemies,” Sutton says. “If you are going to be an incompetent boss, you better be a nice guy."
