During an interview, Steve Wozniak discussed what changes he would have made if he had been Apple's CEO instead of Jobs. Wozniak mentioned that he would have been more considerate towards people, but also added and admitted that if the company was under his leadership, Apple might not have launched the Macintosh.
Steve Jobs was renowned for his demanding and uncompromising nature, often described as controlling and temperamental, driven by a pursuit of excellence and a tendency to push individuals to meet deadlines prematurely. This, you could imagine, was stated to create enormous strain within the organization. He was considered the OG “mean girl” if you will. Many found it challenging to work for him, leading to missed opportunities to harness valuable talent. However, despite these challenges - or perhaps because of them - Jobs managed to establish one of the most renowned brands and successful companies globally.
We are not entirely sure that the level of “disagreeableness” is necessary for us mere mortals running small businesses vs. the enterprise builders like Jobs, but we do know this: FAR too many business owners tolerate FAR too much from too many people: employees, vendors, clients or otherwise!
Although this is a fictional being, one of the reasons so many people loved the character Tony in The Sopranos was because, deep down, they secretly wished they had his backbone and confidence, not taking anything from anyone AND bold enough to do something more than simply holding a grudge against someone who wrongs them.
Now, KRS is not suggesting his level of corruption, anger or response is good or healthy. That’s not the point. What is being said is that many people would do far better in life if they were unafraid to stand up for themselves, not allowing themselves to be affected by critics and instead becoming a more imposing, respected alpha leader, unafraid of speaking their mind and standing their ground.
This translates directly to the security of your business. If you cower and fear taking a stand for yourself, failing to draw a HARD LINE to protect yourself and your organization, you WILL be taken advantage of. It’s really that simple. There are a lot of people out there with their own agendas who aren’t going to give a rip about you. Many want to take you out, harm you and damage you for their own personal gain, particularly cybercriminals, whose job it is to capitalize on YOUR hard work. To steal YOUR profits. To sneak into your network and steal YOUR data, putting on the line your livelihood and everything you’ve spent years of blood, sweat and tears building.
As a business leader, you must assume a Tony Soprano–level of toughness about this. ZERO tolerance for it: be awake and alert, look for such enemies at the gate and get rid of them before the damage they do is irreversible. To add to this, you need to protect yourself by putting the necessary protections in place to prevent those who mean you harm from getting into your network in the first place. The cold, hard truth is that, at the end of the day, as a leader in your organization, if you’re the victim of a cybercrime, YOU will be the one they blame. Your tail is on the line, and reporters won’t be timid about blasting that headline all over the news.
Business isn’t all about being tough on others – it’s also about innovation and driving your company forward, using the best strategies and best practices of those who lead the way, including protecting what you’ve built. It can all be taken away with one wrong mouse click if you don’t have the foresight to get ahead of the problem.
To stay ahead of the cybercriminals and make sure you’re protected book a 10- Minute Discovery Call with our team of experts to get a free IT Risk Assessment. We’ll perform analysis of your network to identify any vulnerabilities and provide you with a plan of action to fix them! This assessment will give you the peace of mind to do what you do best and focus on growing your career and business.
Click here to book your call now or give us a call at: 201.402.1900.