No B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits: No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take-No-Prisoners Guide to Really Getting Rich

by Dan S. Kennedy

Steve Jobs was and Jeff Bezos is famous, or if you prefer, infamous for their extreme impatience. In his book The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and The Age of Amazon, Brad Stone notes that intensity and volatility are not at all unique to Jobs or Bezos, and cites Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates’ successor at Microsoft—famous for throwing chairs, coach Bobby Knight style. Andy Grove, the longtime CEO of Intel, was legendary for vicious conversations with underperforming executives. A subordinate once fainted during a particularly harsh performance review. Bezos largely ignored new-style leadership ideas like consensus building; he was as autocratic as can be, and known for melodramatic temper tantrums. Ex-employees described Amazon as having a “gladiator culture.”