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Comment by jwdunne | Hacker News Reader

Well, if you're a dick, there's gonna be an upper limit on how far you go with your intelligence. I don't think there's value in quantifying that with some hokey quotient.

Take, for example, Shkreli. Major dick but pretty clever by the looks of it. Now found guilty of fraud.

Bill Gates was a major dick. Made tonnes of money but yet reviled and found himself in the dock because of it.

Steve Jobs. Really intelligent but still booted out of Apple due to sheer dickheadery.

Now they all found major success, hence why EQ means fuck all. It seems they, or some, found out they had to do some serious thinking. Bill Gates is arguably the most redemptive.

Imagine you had average intelligence or just above and you were a major dick? People like that get asked to leave more often than not.

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Have you ever actually met any of these people in real life? Reading headlines about famous people doesn't mean you actually know them.

There is enough evidence out there to show they treated people they worked with less than well. Are you saying that Steve Jobs wasn't a dick to his staff and to the board? Are you saying that trying to stage a coup in the workplace isn't a dickhead move?

I think you're arguing past the point a little. From what I've read, what got him booted out was Apple hemorrhaging money and the board wanting to keep the Apple II gravy train going and Jobs disagreeing.

My point is that questionable behavior didn't oust him initially compared to it being a fundamental disagreement over the direction of the company.

I'm sure the behavior didn't help, but if they were still making money hand over fist, the board wasn't going to turn around and say "you're too much of a dick so we're ousting you".

The final straw was Jobs trying to oust John Scully. John Scully said me or him. Board went with Scully. The point is that a lot of his actions that directly let up to that made him a dick. In Jobs case, his destructive behaviours didn't help the bottom line.

Being a dick screws over motivation, colleague happiness/satisfaction, increases turnover, etc. These things have an economic cost. Being a dick can cost your workplace lots of money.

This is all rather pointless when Scilly drove Apple into the ground and Jobs subsequently sent it into the stratosphere. I'm no Jobs fan at all, but that much is obvious.

Look at how badly Jobs treated his subordinates and family for an actual criticism of him.

No it isn't. If Jobs wasn't a dick and alienated 90% of people with his behaviour, he would have had more sway.

Shkreli currently has a 'bit' of trouble with the law.

Jobs died because he was too stupid to realise that cancer can not get treated by magical thinking.

Gates got quite positive popularity due to his charity.

I don't think your examples work too well...

Shkreli hasn't yet learned. Perhaps his financial analysis videos were a movement in the right direction.

Jobs apparently calmed down after his ousting at Apple post-coup attempt, learning better how to lead. He refused to listen to the experts on his health, paid the price.

Gates did not have a great reputation at the helm of Microsoft. Reports from employees, well, the whole "I could write this in a weekend" shit is an example. Gates has spent a shit tonne of time helping the world and being the opposite of a dick. He is now seen in a positive light.

The examples described dickhead behaviour by generally intelligent people and how it held them back. The last 2 examples show they did better once they relaxed the dickhead attitude.

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