The former CEO of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton dealt with an unusual problem: his leadership was dangerously charismatic. In an anecdotal story from Walton’s life, Jim Collins writes that the quirky man once hosted a group of Brazilian billionaires wishing to see how retail operations were run in the United States. He then “pummeled them with questions,” turning the tables and demonstrating his infamous “hunger for learning.” In fact, Walton wanted so badly to see how business was done in South America, he traveled there himself, and was arrested for taking measurements of aisles in stores on his hands and knees.
For Walton the trick was to keep from overpowering his message with his unique idiosyncrasies. This he did by passing on his goal (“to grow annual sales from $30 billion to $125 billion by the year 2000”) to a leader who was far more composed. Under David Glass, Wal-Mart “blew right past” the optimum and made $165 billion that same year, Mr. Collins writes.
Jobs’s personality has also been the subject of critique: he is often characterized as blunt, demanding, and even insulting. It doesn’t appear that this has had a discernibly negative effect on Apple’s output. If anything, the Jobs mystique has attracted talented people who wanted to work under him. The test of his legacy, however, is whether Apple once that outsize personality is no longer in charge.
