We need better assholes.

The way I see it, there are two dominant leadership styles in business and government today. On one side, we have the ruthless and ambitious—but destructive—narcissists. These are the Elon Musks, Jeff Bezoses, Donald Trumps, and Peter Thiels of the world. They are relentless in their pursuit of power and disruption, but their vision is self-serving, chaotic, or outright harmful. On the other side, we have managers, stabilizers, and risk-averse caretakers—leaders who avoid disruption, prioritize optimization, and don’t seem to push boundaries. Think Tim Cook’s Apple, Joe Biden’s incrementalism, or most Fortune 500 CEOs who are happy coasting on stock buybacks and quarterly profits rather than taking bold steps forward.

Both sides are pushing AI infusion not because we need it or even asked for it, but because it is there. The next set of “features” that CFOs and CMOs salivate over.

The result? A trail of mediocrity on the path toward dystopia.

We’re living (more like cringe surviving) in a low-energy holding pattern, where the people who are bold and aggressive are using their power destructively, and the people who should be pushing for change are too afraid to act—like batteries with the same charge, repelling each other, generating nothing but wasted energy. What a bunch of useless assholes.

What the world needs now is something different—something we haven’t had in a while. We need better assholes.

We’re stuck in a cycle where bad leaders break things for the sake of breaking them, and good leaders are too timid to stand up and do anything great. And nowhere is this more obvious than in how companies are forcing AI into everything—not because it makes things better, but because it makes their stock price look good. The same goes with politicians obsessed with turning the federal government into “everything computer!”

Steve Jobs never cared about what was trendy. He didn’t add features just because other companies were doing it. He built things that people didn’t even know they needed yet—but once they saw them, they couldn’t imagine life without them. The iPhone didn’t win because of a marketing gimmick. It won because it was so insanely good that it made everything else feel instantly obsolete.

That’s what we’re missing now. The willingness to ignore the hype, ignore the noise, ignore the stock price, and focus on making something that is actually, undeniably great. And for the love of god, make damn sure the technology actually works or exists before marketing gets a hold of it.

Instead, companies across industries are churning out bloated, unnecessary features, trying to sell us on a future that feels more like a downgrade. Have you looked at new vehicles recently? Who asked to have the entire dashboard turned into a screen? Why is Siri getting dumber? Exactly what is the use case for Samsung’s new washing machine with AI? Who asked for an AI-driven refrigerator? What in the actual fuck are companies thinking these days?!

In his extremely well reasoned and written rebuke of Apple’s seemingly methodical decline toward mediocrity, John Gruber nailed it when he wrote:

When mediocrity, excuses, and bullshit take root, they take over. A culture of excellence, accountability, and integrity cannot abide the acceptance of any of those things, and will quickly collapse upon itself with the acceptance of all three.

That’s where we are now. Not just with Apple, but with so many companies and all four branches of the U.S. federal government—presidential, legislative, judicial, and the media (which gleefully sprinted across the mediocrity finish line decades ago). The people who should be pushing the world forward aren’t, and the ones who are pushing are doing it for all the wrong reasons.

What we need now, more than ever, are better assholes.

Not the ones who wreck industries for personal gain. Not the ones who think disruption means chaos. Not the ones who mistake dominance for leadership. Not the idiots who mistake masculinity for leadership. We need the kind of merciless visionaries who demand better—of themselves, of their companies, of their industries, of the world.

Steve Jobs was an asshole, but he was an asshole in service of something great, and he delivered time and time again. He wasn’t just building Apple to win market share or crush competitors. He was obsessed with making insanely great products, and he wanted that for others as well. He was relentless in pushing people to do better work—not just to work harder, but to actually Think Different. He enabled people. He challenged industries. He rejected compromise. Jobs was a merciless visionary enabler.

That’s the kind of leadership we’re missing. The people who are willing to make others uncomfortable in pursuit of something that actually matters. The people who will fight for excellence, even when it’s inconvenient. The people who see past the bullshit and refuse to accept mediocrity no matter the excuse.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t need fewer assholes. We need—really need—better ones.