Daniel McGinn • Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian, Innovator, Micromanager

The right way is the hard way

We have clearly seen this with Steve Jobs. These leaders tend to be tough bosses because they have a big picture and a small picture in their head at the same time—strategy and execution. They are highly critical bosses. They are very demanding, but the companies tend to win because there is this comprehensive leadership, not just the theoretical,

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I think there are things in life that you want to telescope and compress and accelerate and streamline and make more efficient. And there are things where the value is precisely in the inefficiency, in the time spent, in the pain endured, in the effort you have to invest. And I don’t think we’re going to differentiate between those things. Because ... See more

Most powerful people are on the manager's schedule. It's the schedule of command. But there's another way of using time that's common among people who make things, like programmers and writers. They generally prefer to use time in units of half a day at least. You can't write or program well in units of an hour. That's barely enough time to get sta... See more