I think it really depends on how you define the word "nice".
On a personal level everyone here (outside of Steve Jobs lol) might be great. I remember when Jeff left senior people who knew him from Amazon seemed genuinely upset, and also left. Tons of photos of people having a good time, drinking and hanging out etc. For all of Zuck's problems he seems more awkward than actively malicious, and lots of his worst quotes come from when he was much younger and immature. So on a personal basis I don't think it's required to be an asshole in order to be successful at this level.
From a leadership perspective someone who is "nice" to the point of being a doormat isn't going to last long in any leadership position. Needing to reach a consensus on every decision or defaulting to the decision that causes the least amount of short term pain just means you're not going to be a leader for very long.
Businesses are dictatorships at the end of the day, and they're constantly in a state of conflict. I think at a CEO level you're going to end up with people who are at the very least willing to be disagreeable, because you need to put your foot down and tell everyone no at some point. "nice" CEOs probably get filtered out b/c they're unwilling to do things like layoff people.
I don't think nice guys finish last per se, because this level of wealth comes with it's own problems. (e.g. How many of these dudes have been divorced...)
Politics are a whole different animal, I'd argue it's much more zero sum than business. Only so many seats after all.
On a personal level everyone here (outside of Steve Jobs lol) might be great. I remember when Jeff left senior people who knew him from Amazon seemed genuinely upset, and also left. Tons of photos of people having a good time, drinking and hanging out etc. For all of Zuck's problems he seems more awkward than actively malicious, and lots of his worst quotes come from when he was much younger and immature. So on a personal basis I don't think it's required to be an asshole in order to be successful at this level.
From a leadership perspective someone who is "nice" to the point of being a doormat isn't going to last long in any leadership position. Needing to reach a consensus on every decision or defaulting to the decision that causes the least amount of short term pain just means you're not going to be a leader for very long.
Businesses are dictatorships at the end of the day, and they're constantly in a state of conflict. I think at a CEO level you're going to end up with people who are at the very least willing to be disagreeable, because you need to put your foot down and tell everyone no at some point. "nice" CEOs probably get filtered out b/c they're unwilling to do things like layoff people.
I don't think nice guys finish last per se, because this level of wealth comes with it's own problems. (e.g. How many of these dudes have been divorced...)
Politics are a whole different animal, I'd argue it's much more zero sum than business. Only so many seats after all.