Via Business Insider:
So, why aren't entrepreneurs like Jobs worthy of idolization? Gladwell points to one thing that all great entrepreneurs have in common.
"The greatest entrepreneurs are amoral. It's not that they're immoral, it's that they're amoral," he explained, referencing a 2011 article he wrote for the New Yorker about L'Oreal's dealings with Nazi Germany.
"They are completely single-minded and obsessively focused on the health of their enterprise," said Gladwell. "That's what makes them good at building businesses, but that's what also makes them people who are not worthy of this level of hagiography."
"So we need to be clear when we venerate entrepreneurs what we are venerating," said Gladwell. "They are not moral leaders. If they were moral leaders they wouldn't be great businessmen. So when a businessman is a great moral leader, it is because they have maintained their conscience separately from their operations."
Malcolm Gladwell On Why History Will Remember Bill Gates And Forget Steve Jobs - Business Insider
Begs the question: What about entrepreneurs like Sam Walton and Dennis Bakke? The answer is too easy. Any shortcoming, slipup, or negative impact be their businesses would be pointed to as proof they aren’t moral leaders.
