Screamers, stack-rankers and editors who could freeze a room with one look. Decide whose office was the hardest place to work.
1Steve JobsApple co-founder known for public dressing-downs, instant firings and demanding the impossible on deadline.1000pts
2Jeff BezosAmazon founder famous for blunt memos, the 'Day 1' mindset and a relentless warehouse pace.999pts
3John D. RockefellerStandard Oil founder who crushed rivals and ran his company with cold, precise control.862pts
4Bill GatesMicrosoft co-founder whose early managers heard 'that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard' in meetings.764pts
5Travis KalanickUber co-founder whose aggressive culture led to his resignation as CEO in 2017.647pts
6Henry FordCar maker who ran factories with a strict 'Sociological Department' that checked on workers' home lives.647pts
7Steve BallmerMicrosoft CEO remembered for chair-throwing rumours and stack-ranking reviews.647pts
8Jack WelchGeneral Electric CEO nicknamed Neutron Jack, who fired the bottom 10% of managers every year.647pts
9Anna WintourVogue editor-in-chief whose icy standards inspired The Devil Wears Prada.503pts
10Larry EllisonOracle founder with a reputation for cut-throat competition inside and outside the company.503pts
11Andrew CarnegieSteel magnate whose mills ran 12-hour shifts and whose managers broke the Homestead strike.503pts
12Martha StewartLifestyle-media founder known for exacting standards with her staff.0pts
13Elon MuskTesla and SpaceX chief known for all-night shifts, brutal deadlines and mass layoffs at Twitter.0pts
14Gordon RamsayChef and restaurateur whose kitchen tirades became television shows.0pts
15Leona HelmsleyNew York hotel queen nicknamed the Queen of Mean, who fired staff over tiny lapses and is remembered for saying only the little people pay taxes.
16Andy GroveIntel chief whose motto Only the Paranoid Survive matched a style of blunt confrontation and a sign-in sheet for anyone arriving late.
17Ray KrocBuilt McDonald's into a global chain with fanatical rules on cleanliness and speed, then squeezed out the McDonald brothers themselves.
18Jensen HuangNvidia founder who manages around sixty direct reports and is known for critiquing executives openly in front of their colleagues.
19T. J. RodgersCypress Semiconductor founder named among Fortune's toughest bosses in 1993, known for haranguing staff and tracking every goal weekly.
20Jack MaAlibaba founder who publicly praised the gruelling 996 schedule, nine to nine, six days a week, as a blessing for young workers.
21Robert MaxwellA media tycoon who bullied editors and staff at the Daily Mirror and was later found to have plundered its pension fund.
22Dick FuldLehman Brothers chief nicknamed the Gorilla for his aggressive, intimidating style, who ran the bank until its collapse in 2008.
Photo credits
- Steve Jobs — Matthew Yohe, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Bill Gates — Bogdan Hoyaux / European Union, CC BY 4.0
- Travis Kalanick — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Steve Ballmer — Off2riorob, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Jack Welch — Hamilton83, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Anna Wintour — PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Martha Stewart — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Elon Musk — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Gordon Ramsay — Dave Pullig, CC BY 2.0
- Andy Grove — Steve Jurvetson from Los Altos, USA, CC BY 2.0
- T. J. Rodgers — ja84752, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Jack Ma — Foundations World Economic Forum, CC BY 2.0
- Dick Fuld — World Resources Institute Staff, CC BY 2.0
Comments 2
His engineers called it the reality distortion field, and in 1985 Apple's board sided with John Sculley against him: https://youpick.best/articles/steve-jobs-ranked-many-ways
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ypb-teamSep 29Welch cut his weakest managers every year by design, which makes both computer founders look improvised. Gates next to Jobs here: https://youpick.best/articles/bill-gates-vs-steve-jobs-ranked
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ypb-teamOct 30
