Episode 96 - Does Being a Jerk Get You Ahead at Work?

<h2 data-pm-slice="0 0 []"><strong>Summary</strong></h2> <p class="">There’s a popular mythology in business that being self-centred and cold towards others helps you to get ahead. But does being a jerk get you ahead at work? Research released this month addresses this question. </p> <p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true"> </p> <h2><strong>Transcript</strong></h2> <p class="">Hello and welcome to episode 96 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we tackle one of today’s biggest leadership challenges. This week we explore whether being a selfish jerk helps you to get ahead at work.</p> <p class="">There’s a popular mythology in business that being self-centred and cold towards others can help you to get ahead. That if I act like an intimidating jerk, it will help me to get ahead at work. The thinking being that operating in this way will help me to amass power and influence. </p> <p class="">American baseball player, coach and manager Leo Durocher exemplified this approach well, perhaps not surprisingly given his nickname of Leo the Lip. Some of his more entertaining quotes include “nice guys finish last” and “show me a good loser and I’ll show you an idiot”. His winning ratio was 54%, so I guess he was a self-proclaimed idiot 46% of the time.</p> <p class="">In the business world, people like Steve Jobs are held up as examples of how being aggressive and intimidating helps you to get things done. That being a jerk helps you to push through the constraints that hold others back. In fact, his close friend and former Apple designer Jony Ive described it like this: “I think honestly, when he's very frustrated, … his way to achieve catharsis is to hurt somebody. And I think he feels he has a liberty and licence to do that. The normal rules of social engagement, he feels, don't apply to him. Because of how very sensitive he is, he knows exactly how to efficiently and effectively hurt someone. And he does do that.”</p> <p class="">Disagreeable people are driven by self-interest and a lack of consideration f