The thing with this advice is that it's really great and very sound but I wonder who it is aimed at.
If it is aimed at those that really want to take heed of this advice and learn a lesson from it, then great, but if it's aimed at the likes of those mentioned in the article, then i'm afraid to say the advice is going to fall on "deaf ears".
The biggest thing with people like Thomas is that they never learn.
There's a very good reason why he's still acting like a 19 year old at 31. He's clearly got deeper issues regards his self-esteem. Remember, Self-esteem and Narcissism are flip sides of the same coin. People like that are very good at painting a picture of their own versions of reality or making it look like they completely understand what it is you're trying to say, but in reality, their ego gets in the way, and they never really understand your message. It's a never ending battle.
The sad part is there are many wannabe entrepreneurs out there with ego issues such as Thomas, that are very good at convincing the rest of the world that they know what they're doing and that things haven't gone the right way because of 'this reason or that' - and while they're at convincing the rest of the world, they wreck other people's lives in the process because they're so not adept at taking responsibility for their own success (self-esteem issues) and usually wreck other people's sense of self-esteem in the process.
Agreed. People like Jesse Thomas usually have had ample advice on how not to be jerk and why, but they ignored it.
Unfortunately I think there are a lot of people out there that think that being a raging jerk is an acceptable and even desirable part of being a leader. Especially those who blindly idolize Steve Jobs. The problem is that many people don't understand that:
A. They are not as talented as Steve Jobs
B. Steve Jobs succeeded in spite of his assholery
C. Steve Jobs got fired from his own company, partly because of his behavior
D. Steve Jobs learned to mellow out a bit in his later years
I live in DC, and I remember when I saw the first JESS3 sticker of his face and thought, "There goes an out of control ego." Didn't know that it would turn out this bad.
I agree regards the Steve Jobs example but i think there are other 'role models' that are creating these monsters too. Things like Glengarry Glenn Ross etc.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 20.1 ms ] threadThe biggest thing with people like Thomas is that they never learn.
There's a very good reason why he's still acting like a 19 year old at 31. He's clearly got deeper issues regards his self-esteem. Remember, Self-esteem and Narcissism are flip sides of the same coin. People like that are very good at painting a picture of their own versions of reality or making it look like they completely understand what it is you're trying to say, but in reality, their ego gets in the way, and they never really understand your message. It's a never ending battle.
The sad part is there are many wannabe entrepreneurs out there with ego issues such as Thomas, that are very good at convincing the rest of the world that they know what they're doing and that things haven't gone the right way because of 'this reason or that' - and while they're at convincing the rest of the world, they wreck other people's lives in the process because they're so not adept at taking responsibility for their own success (self-esteem issues) and usually wreck other people's sense of self-esteem in the process.
Unfortunately I think there are a lot of people out there that think that being a raging jerk is an acceptable and even desirable part of being a leader. Especially those who blindly idolize Steve Jobs. The problem is that many people don't understand that:
A. They are not as talented as Steve Jobs B. Steve Jobs succeeded in spite of his assholery C. Steve Jobs got fired from his own company, partly because of his behavior D. Steve Jobs learned to mellow out a bit in his later years
I live in DC, and I remember when I saw the first JESS3 sticker of his face and thought, "There goes an out of control ego." Didn't know that it would turn out this bad.