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Comment by thefastlane | Hacker News Reader

"How do you motivate a team? [...] I’d say first and foremost don’t be an asshole"

agreed. the easiest way to get people to walk out the door is to be a jerk to them. it's amazing to me when i encounter a manager type that hasn't yet learned this very basic lesson.

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I think they haven't learned it because they don't need to. They (think they) are disconnected from the consequences of mismanaging the project. This goes on especially in long-duration project, when a manager is going to get promoted before the project ends, so he has no personal stakes whatsoever in its success.

The best way to motivate a team is to create an environment where they are at their best and they respect their co-workers, where they are learning, and where they are proud of what they are doing.

Being a very nice and likable person is something you have to have to keep a team together if you can't deliver any of the things in my first sentence.

But we look up to assholes don't we? Steve Jobs. Michael Jordan. The Wolf of Wall Street. There's something to be said by that. If only "different people are motivated by different things".

Some assholes are looked up at because the are damn good at certain things, despite their being assholes.

There's nothing in The Wolf of Wall Street to look up to. It's a story of pointless people greedily shitting all over everybody because they've got nothing better to live for.

Apparently, he seems to be good with teaching people how to be persuasive: http://jordanbelfort.com/

Looks like your run-of-the-mill time share salesman to me.

Boils down to WIIFM.

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