From: The Story of Steve Jobs (edited)
Apple employees rarely quit when Jobs called them shitheads, or even when he took credit for their ideas.
An early manager on the Mac team told Isaacson about the abuses Jobs heaped on employees.
But she said, “I consider myself the absolute luckiest person in the world to have worked with him.”
These testimonials are proof, for many, that strong leadership and impressive results will lead employees to tolerate, even embrace, unpleasant work conditions.
Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, practices radical forthrightness in all his personal relationships.
All Bridgewater employees are expected to clash with one another, to speak without filters or concerns about sensitivities.
Dalio shares Jobs’ belief in the benefits of a tough, brutally candid office environment, though he requires his employees to dish it out to him just as much as they take it.
He likens the mode of dialog he practices to twisting one’s limbs into a difficult yoga position or training as a Navy SEAL.
“Pretty soon the pain becomes pleasure and you can’t live without it.”
