"Playing well with others" is very important if you're trying to build a large scale business with lots of employees. From my article: "If you want to build something large and successful, you'll need to know how to delegate tasks, step aside for others that know more than you, and generally be more of a leader and less of a know-it-all." Basically, I could have more crudely phrased it as "Don't Be An Asshole". Nobody likes working for one and it'll lead you down a path to failure.
People don't choose who to work for based on whether or not the 'boss' is an asshole, in fact I would put forward that most bosses are less than nice, even (or maybe especially) the successful ones.
The biggest deciding factor for most people to choose where to work is the size of the paycheck and the benefits, a nice boss is 'nice to have' but not an absolute must. And that is why people are frequently frustrated about their workplace environment. Some will burn out or even get ill.
But quitting because the boss is a jerk and taking a paycut to work for a nicer person is not common, even though it definitely does happen.
I think it is idealistic to put these things forward as traits of entrepreneurs. In an ideal world they would be, in the world we live in the reverse seems to be the case more often than not. I'd rather live in your world though :)
I've been a boss, and I've tried hard to be one of the nicer ones. The downside of that is that your employees will find that they do not really know how to deal with that, so their interpret 'the boss is nice' as 'we can do what we want'. It is very hard to be both a 'nice' boss and to stay productive, that is why I think that most experienced managers adopt a less than 'nice' stance to keep the wheels turning. They don't much care if people think they are jerks, as long as the trains run on time and the bottom line is going up.
I disagree - what you're describing are "cogs", people who have no choices when it comes to employment. For people further up the ladder in skill, they are in enough demand that they can easily afford to pass up the opportunity of working under an asshole.
I've passed up job offers where they refused to let me speak with my future boss. I'm going to be spending the majority of my waking hours working, and I have enough options that I am in no way compelled to work with someone who drives me up the wall all day. This includes being nice.
I absolutely agree with you. I knew a very smart guy who went out to start his own company and you could see the failure coming a mile away. He thought because he was smarter than most at some things, he was smarter than everyone at everything. Bankruptcy quickly ensued. The people who don't see how important this is are the ones who can't play well with others.
This is not disproved by assholes becoming successful. One of the common traits of ruthless people is fierce loyalty to a small group of people. If you can't create that core of people to trust, delegate, get advice from, you can not reach the higher level.
The point of being ruthless is to step on people when that's the most useful thing for you, not to step on people because you like stepping on people. Bill G. is a classic example of a ruthless person that is more than willing to pay well and take care of their competent staff.
