This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity Podcast. The topic today, and it comes out of a question that a listener shared with me, the listener shared, do most leaders have an edge? Is it ultimately, do you need some edge? And when I say edge, I don't mean that they're super bright, they're super smart, or that they've got some insider ability. What we mean is they have some toughness, maybe some darkness in them. Darkness is probably the but some toughness that makes them able to make hard decisions, sort out teams, get rid of people who don't perform, set clarity of vision, even though everybody else might not agree with that vision, and sometimes be not popular, not necessarily be liked because they're driving a certain direction. And sometimes when leaders are working hard, they're pushing things very hard. They're pushing people hard to accomplish things and not often liked. So the question is, do most leaders have an edge? And again, I think the answer is yes. I've never been around a highly successful leader that doesn't have some edge. At the very best, I've seen people that might be wonderfully charismatic people, and they may themselves not seem like they have that much of an edge, but almost always they've got a partner, a chief operating officer, a president, someone that has that edge that can make sure that things work, that they get done.

At the end of the day, that leader with charisma, that leader with wonderful personal skills, who seems not to have an edge, is aware enough, he or she is aware enough that they're hiring a leader that has an edge, that could do the tough things, make the hard decisions, push people hard to get things done, and so forth. So I come back to this question of, do most leaders have an edge? My experience is almost always they have an edge. They almost always have flaws as well. They may try and hide them. But if you find me the person without flaws, I'll find you the person who's a premier actor versus truly somebody without flaws. So my sense of this is most leaders to push an agenda, to push, to get stuff done, to ultimately be able to succeed and to sort people out, which we just mean, often firing people that don't belong on the team need to have an edge. It doesn't make them bad people, but does make them strong people. I do believe most leaders have some an edge, imperfect, flawed, but an edge. Absolutely. I do also believe that in terms of core terms of success, building teams along with drive, vision, personal skills, intelligence is absolutely critical.

So most leaders might have to have an edge, but they can't have it be the overwhelming part of their personality because it's very hard to build teams if that edge is too strong, if that temper, that darkness is too strong. But I do believe that most of us are flawed. Most leaders have an edge. Thank you for listening to the Becker Private Equity Podcast. Always love to have your comments. Hear what you think. 7.7.3, 7.66, 5. 3.2.2. Feel free to text with your opinions, your thoughts, whatever you want. We'd love to hear it. Thank you for listening to the Becker Private Equity Podcast.