A simple answer to a complex question.

- Does character matter in leadership?
- Can a bad person be a good leader?

Meet Steve Jobs.

- A THREAD https://twitter.com/tayooye/status/1251560284310945799

Steve Jobs denied paternity of his daughter, Lisa, for years.

She and her mother were so poor that they ended up living on welfare despite the fact that Jobs was a billionaire.

He just didn't want anything to do with her despite a DNA test proving his paternity.

While working at Atari, Steve Jobs recruited Wozniak (his friend) to help build a scaled-down version of Pong.

There was a big bonus involved in the project so Steve Jobs LIED about how much money was involved and pocketed the majority of the money for himself.

When Steve had to make cutbacks at Pixar, he fired people and didn't give any severance pay. Pamela Kerwin, an early Pixar employee, pleaded that employees at least be given two weeks' notice.

He said NO and fired them on the spot.

- Steve Jobs was a brilliant leader, but he was also a jerk.
- Adolph Hitler was a great leader, but he was also a jerk.
- Winston Churchill was a brilliant leader, but he was also a jerk.

Leadership is the art and science of influencing people towards a goal.

When you're a negative person with leadership skills, you influence people towards negative things.

When you're a positive person with leadership skills, you influence people towards positive things.

It's important to develop wholesome character traits before becoming a leader because leadership rarely makes people better.

It only amplifies their current character traits.

Character matters. We should demand virtue and integrity from leaders.

But all too often, bad people develop good leadership skills and lead organizations and even countries astray.

If you're a good and decent person, please learn some leadership skills. We need people like you in leadership positions.

Please note that it is almost impossible to make a difference until you learn to lead.