I don get why people think being an ****** is a good thing. I would think being able to work well with other executives is a plus.
Really? Seems that Sinofsky was the closest thing Microsoft had to a Steve Jobs, who by the way, was also not a very nice person. I don't get why people think being nice is an expected character trait in corporate leadership, as if people climb to the top of that greasy poll by being nice. In his 20 years with the company Sinosfky accomplished some things running the division that actually keeps Microsoft afloat, no small feat in a company with notoriously dysfunctional management. Looking more deeply into this you will find that Ballmer viewed Sinofsky as threat to his leadership. So again, this is what is often meant by the code words, "not a team player." Ballmer made the challenge go away -- we'll see if that's a good thing for Microsoft or not.