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Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

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Re: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

#51

Post by DesiLurker »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

In my experience this type of person can only exist in your organization if their manager is below average. I have come across my share of them and every time if their manager was a dud the whole company suffered, if their manager was on the ball they would put structure around the jerk to achieve a net improvement in productivity without the negativity.

spot on, I have seen people like this who you wouldn't even call brilliant but excellent Prototype-Masters. usually they flourish because they can provide cover for some deep seated insecurity of their bosses (like knowing you are technically incompetent). the problem is that such people are credit suckers because their quick & dirty prototype can pass for the real thing in the eye of 'innocent bystanders'. Overall it just lowers morale of the team as nothing seems worthwhile anymore.

Thank god I dont work there anymore!

Re: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

#53

Post by xiaoma »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

In my experience this type of person can only exist in your organization if their manager is below average. I have come across my share of them and every time if their manager was a dud the whole company suffered, if their manager was on the ball they would put structure around the jerk to achieve a net improvement in productivity without the negativity.

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Elison and Jeff Bezos each nurtured that sort of person (and were themselves that sort of person). They utterly steamrolled the kinder and gentler companies in their respective markets.

Sometimes reality and what you want to be true are not the same.

Re: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

#54

Post by astrodust »

dcposch wrote: post #25
beachy wrote: post #13

> A “No Jerks” Policy Must Be Built Into Your Culture. It is entirely possible to be extremely passionate (and even brilliant) without being a jerk. A “no jerks” policy must be preached and practiced from the highest levels. Following simplistic rules like this is usually what leaves us knee deep in the proverbial. Maybe I've been lucky, but I've never worked with anyone who's as much of a jerk as described in the ar…

> Brilliant jerks are often to be found at the beating heart of successful software. Exhibit 0: Linus Torvalds

Exhibit B: Steve Ballmer.

Re: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

#56

Post by athenot »

Maybe it's just me but most truly brilliant people with whom I've worked, have been the opposite: very nice. They were not only smart in their own field but also smart on an emotional level. They were the kind of people you wanted to be around, and they were constantly learning from other brilliant people, recognizing that a bad personality creates friction to learning.

Re: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

#57

Post by smallnamespace »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #29
beachy wrote: post #13

> A “No Jerks” Policy Must Be Built Into Your Culture. It is entirely possible to be extremely passionate (and even brilliant) without being a jerk. A “no jerks” policy must be preached and practiced from the highest levels. Following simplistic rules like this is usually what leaves us knee deep in the proverbial. Maybe I've been lucky, but I've never worked with anyone who's as much of a jerk as described in the ar…

> In my experience, talented developers are usually intelligent enough that they can make up for their shortcoming in the social area by consciously adapting their behaviour. That's orthogonal to the issue mentioned in the article. For the purposes of "not being a jerk", it doesn't matter if that comes naturally or if you have to devote conscious effort to it; only the resulting behavior matters. > Brilliant jerks ar…

OTOH, you can make a pretty strong argument that for, say, MS, Oracle, or Apple, it's precisely the 'jerk-y' qualities of their founders and CEOs that led to their success today.

Say what you like about MS's business practices during the 90s, but I think the history shows that a large reason they were able to continue their dominance was because of the unfair and frankly anticompetitive practices that they embraced back then. Bill Gate's willingness to be a jerk was what kept their company on top.

Of course, that was directed productively and outward, not destructively inward.

Re: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

#58

Post by astrodust »

xiaoma wrote: post #53
ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

In my experience this type of person can only exist in your organization if their manager is below average. I have come across my share of them and every time if their manager was a dud the whole company suffered, if their manager was on the ball they would put structure around the jerk to achieve a net improvement in productivity without the negativity.

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Elison and Jeff Bezos each nurtured that sort of person (and were themselves that sort of person). They utterly steamrolled the kinder and gentler companies in their respective markets. Sometimes reality and what you want to be true are not the same.

Their personalities could not be more different. Their approach to business and life are completely orthogonal.

Re: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

#59

Post by astrodust »

latenightcoding wrote: post #33

I honestly enjoy working with those "brilliant jerks", if they are actually brilliant I will learn from them. And debating with them is very entertaining.

There's a difference between a cantankerous curmudgeon and being an asshole.

Re: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

#60

Post by solipsism »

kurthr wrote: post #28
beachy wrote: post #13

> A “No Jerks” Policy Must Be Built Into Your Culture. It is entirely possible to be extremely passionate (and even brilliant) without being a jerk. A “no jerks” policy must be preached and practiced from the highest levels. Following simplistic rules like this is usually what leaves us knee deep in the proverbial. Maybe I've been lucky, but I've never worked with anyone who's as much of a jerk as described in the ar…

I agree... usually when a truly brilliant developer is causing more harm than good, it's because they aren't being effectively managed. That doesn't mean managing them is easy, but you want to pick and choose what problems you give them, who they work with, and how they work with customers. Of course, that's not my job :^)

Usually? The overlap in the Venn diagram between "Truly brilliant developer" and "giant baby who has no social skills" is probably non zero, but I work with many brilliant non-jerks. Perhaps you've been unlucky.
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