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Difficult decisions
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I have a similar sentiment about Linus. He seems like he is overall a decent person, and I bet we would probably even be decent friends if we were to meet at a time before LTT/LMG, but I agree about wanting to punch him in the face sometimes. Some of the things he decides to dig his heels in about and be stubborn are really annoying. If he were just one of my friends, it would be pretty easy to either have a rational conversation with him or decide not to engage seriously and roast him about it, but instead he has a very large platform and a certain amount of influence that makes some of his takes a little more frustrating/damaging.
All of that said, I have still had worse bosses and the bulk of my career has probably been spent working at much less fun companies.
I'm not sure where I was going with that other than acknowledging that nuance exists and that he isn't evil or anything, just annoying.
What makes anyone say Linus is a good person? Genuine question.
I would likely in turn ask what makes him a bad person?
As I alluded to I have plenty of criticisms of him, but does that make him a bad person? Maybe using the terms "good" and "bad" are a bit too binary. Like a lot of things in life those terms can be at least somewhat subjective and most people exist on a spectrum. Most people however don't have large portions of their personality exposed to the world to see, nor do they have the livelihoods of over 100 people relying on that personality. I know for a fact that if my personality were broadcast to as many people as his is there are plenty of people who would take issue with certain aspects of it.
As to why I don't lump him in with people like Elon Musk or Jack Welch? He doesn't strike me as being a complete self interested sociopath. He seems like he is usually trying to do right by those around him and that he does care about those people. For example the turnover rate at LMG is very low in comparison to other related industries. If he were that terrible to his employees it's pretty hard to retain people as smart and talented as a lot of them are if they don't like it there.
I could come up with a lot of examples where he made some pretty bad decisions or how he doesn't know when to shut the fuck up, but does that make him a bad person? At worst he strikes me as someone a bit brash and ambitious that got really lucky before learning how to temper that and is now having to learn it as he goes along while sometimes being in over his head.