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In many organizations, and possibly in yours, it is necessary to deal with an extremely talented employee who is also a disagreeable jerk. Perhaps the best-known corporate example is Steve Jobs, who was forced out of Apple because of erratic behavior. After a brilliant 12 years in other technology companies, he returned to Apple as chief executive officer and remained there until his death.
While undeniably talented, his difficult personality was a challenge to everyone in the company. Like Jobs, many difficult people are outstanding contributors, and that makes it difficult to enforce the discipline that is expected from all employees. Toxic behaviors should never be tolerated, but frequently they are. There are several reasons why this happens:
- Management presumes that intensive coaching will change behavior.
- Accountability is not evenly employed. Talented managers are allowed to break the rules.
- Some executives feel that no price is too high to pay for results.
Consultant Art Perry claims that there are four reasons why the “brilliant bastard ” is not disciplined:
- People are afraid of her/him.
- Because he loves what this individual produces, the boss is willing to look the other way.
- Management focuses on numbers, and nothing else is important.
- There are two standards–one for the brilliant people and another for everyone else.
The bottom line is that discipline and quality cannot be maintained unless rules are enforced for everybody. Apple did the right thing by releasing Jobs, and perhaps they did the right thing by allowing him to come back.
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