Ruthlessness Is Not a Dirty Word

Nice or ruthless, feared or liked. How you get there matters less than knowing where you're going.

I've worked with enough successful founders to believe ruthlessness gets a bad name.

Some of the most successful founders I've worked with are ruthless. Others are genuinely nice people.

The thing that separates them isn't personality. It's knowing exactly what they want their destination and deciding what they're prepared to do to get there.

The ruthless founders tend to be incredibly single-minded. Money. Category leadership. Beating the competition. Being the best.

Once the destination is clear, almost everything else can become secondary.

That can make them appear cold. They can be feared rather than liked. They make decisions others won't because popularity, emotion and other people's opinions simply don't carry enough weight to change their direction.

But being ruthless isn't inherently wrong. And being the nice guy isn't inherently right.

They're different ways of making the journey.

What matters is choosing a path that aligns with your character and conscience while taking you where you truly want to go.

If your destination is financial security and a comfortable retirement, what happens when you arrive?

If it's being number one, is there ever a destination?

And if money eventually gives way to legacy, you've changed the destination. So why wouldn't the journey change too?

So, if you really want to understand a founder, don't start by asking whether they're ruthless, nice, feared or popular.

Ask them where they're trying to get to.

Because once you understand the destination, the way they choose to get there makes a lot more sense.