> I've met two kinds of "brilliant jerks" in my working life.
I think this is a key point, along with ianbicking's observation that jerkness is often an environmental (rather than innate) phenomenon. Here's a quote many here might recognize.
"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice"
Substitute "quality" or "progress" for "liberty" and you might see what I'm getting at. Some people are just jerks, full stop, end of story. They won't stop being jerks. They will continue to bring everyone down, so they're best gotten rid of. However, there are others who can exhibit many of the same outward behaviors because of context. Most often, the context is that people aren't listening. In an organization where there's a strong emphasis on empirical results, and even more so in one where there's a strong focus on learning, this "situational jerkness" doesn't occur. On the other hand, when people persist in doing things that are wrong despite every prior proof that it's wrong, others might get frustrated enough with them to start being jerks. Examples from my own experience might include:
* Repeatedly deferring fixes to a known serious problem, while resources are devoted to less important things.
* Re-submitting the same proposal or patch without fixing already-identified flaws.
* Persisting in collaborative anti-patterns such as pulling rank or announcing decisions made without all stakeholders present.
I've been a jerk myself, when faced with these kinds of situations. I'd have to be some kind of jerk not to push for change, when experience tells me that the status quo leads to a bad place. Sometimes passive aggression needs to be met with active aggression. When faced with being a jerk for good or a jerk for evil, I'll choose being a jerk for good. It's not a decision to be made lightly, and if it happens often then we're probably back in "permanent jerk" territory, but sometimes it's a decision that needs to be made anyway.