I was talking to a guy earlier today about NBC honcho Jeff Zucker‘s earlier refusal to back off from broadcasting the Golden Globes on 1.13, which, if he’d stuck to this position, would have killed the show because all the movie stars would have refused to attend. (NBC is said to be backing away from this, although nothing is official as of this writing.)
In any case, the guy then observed (not necessarily referring to Zucker specifically) that “the most successful people in life are often the ones who are willing to be the biggest assholes,” or words to that effect. And I thought, “Hmmm…never heard it put quite that way before.”
Here’s another way to put it: people who are afraid to use power (which would include those who are afraid to act forcefully out of fear of what people might think) don’t usually hold on to power for very long. The serious tough hombres are not, as a rule, boy scouts who are hoping that mommy will give them extra cookies as a reward for earning a merit badge.