Alex Karp is known for founding and running a $414 billion company and being one of the highest-paid CEOs in tech. He is also known, as he admitted during the New York Times Dealbook conference on Wednesday, for being “an arrogant prick.” And he thinks more leaders should be.
“The critique I get on Wall Street is I’m an arrogant prick,” Karp said, gripping both sides of his chair and leaning precariously forward in his usual animated style. “Okay, great. Well, you know, judge me by the accomplishment.”
But Karp insisted that his defense of his own abrasiveness was part of his philosophy on risk, failure and the dangerous insulation of the American elite. In Karp’s worldview, “arrogance” is a necessary survival mechanism for a leader who intends to be right even when it is unpopular.
“If you’re right a lot, maybe exerting that you’re gonna be right tomorrow is pretty important,” Karp said.
The outsourcing of stupidity
