Criticized Leadership or ‘Sell Ice Cream’

“If you want to make everyone happy, don't be a leader. Sell ice cream.”

Steve Jobs
Co-founder and late chairman and CEO at Apple

Most leadership is going to be doubted, questioned and criticized at some point. That might very well be earned scrutiny yet it also is part of the empowered position and followers’ perceptions, analysis and judgment.

Today, Steve Jobs’ comment about not being able to make everyone happy and selling ice cream if that’s what you, as a leader, want most, is examined, by this Communication Intelligence special panel.

Moshe Cohen
Senior lecturer of Management and Organizations
Boston University

Steve Jobs is one of the leaders I discuss with my MBA Leadership class at Boston University. Leadership involves making difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions, as well as conducting challenging and often uncomfortable conversations.

Whether deciding to cancel a project, fire an employee, promote one person over another or provide critical feedback, leaders need to do what they believe is best for the organization, even if in the process they ruffle some feathers or make some people unhappy.

The desire to be liked or to make people happy therefore needs to become secondary to making the best choices and communicating as clearly as possible.

The quote from Steve Jobs is therefore an acknowledgment of this reality and a warning to would-be leaders to anticipate and prepare themselves for this eventuality so they don't fall into the trap of avoiding tough decisions or difficult conversations.

Alternatively, they can decide that making people unhappy is not what they want to do and to choose a different path altogether.

Jeff Matlow
President at By Title Only
Writer and publisher at '“By Title Only” newsletter

If a person’s goal is to make people happy, they will fail as a leader.

The leader who wants to make everybody happy will say different things to different people, oftentimes contradicting themselves, simply to avoid conflict. After all, conflict could lead to not being liked, right?

They will avoid decision making because decisions cause some people to be unhappy.

In the end they will create toxic cultures.

Renee Fellman
Business improvement specialist & interim CEO for over 20 companies
Renee Fellman & Associates

To succeed, companies need first-rate management teams. Although leaders do need to make tough decisions and survive criticism, they also need to be willing to listen to and consider carefully input from their teams when they make decisions.

Otherwise? They will not be able to attract and keep first-rate teams. Jobs was right:  Being a leader is not for the faint of heart. 

The upside of being a leader is that — subject to board approval for some issues — you are the final decision maker. You get to make the decisions you think are best.  

The downside? You may be wrong. No one is right 100% of the time.

If you never listen to your people and do not carefully consider their input and expertise, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to recruit “A” players and to get the best results. “A” players want to be heard and appreciated, to see their skills used and their ideas turned into reality.

As Abraham Lincoln might have observed, “You can make all of the people happy some of the time and some of the people happy all of the time but you cannot make all of the people happy all of the time.” 

Leaders need to be able to expect and accept disagreement. In the world today, people who sell ice cream sometimes face unhappy customers.

Bryan Clayton
CEO and co-founder at GreenPal, the Uber for Lawn Care

He was known for being a demanding boss but I don't think he meant to be difficult for the sake of it. He understood the importance of making difficult decisions in order to drive the company forward.

The most efficient method of running a company is often one of a benevolent dictator and that is what Steve Jobs embodied the most.

While us mere mortal leaders may not be able to emulate all of his character traits, we can learn from his ability to make decisions quickly for the greater good of the company.

It's about having the courage to make the tough calls and staying focused on the mission of the company.

Bianca Riemer
Finance director and board member at International Coaching Federation UK

My own boss told me some very similar words once when I was an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and we were about to publish a research report with a very contrarian view on German residential property stocks in 2011.

He said that “This report will not be loved by many people, but it's the right thing to do.”

At the time, German residential was very unpopular among investors and I published a positive view on Deutsche Wohnen, which was hovering at €8 at the time. Investors were shocked by the research. Some laughed at me, calling me crazy.

I stuck to my guns, and investors started listening. A few years later, I won 3 Starmine analyst awards and Deutsche Wohnen eventually got taken over by its competitor Vonovia in 2022 at €53, meaning it quadrupled after people called me crazy for having a “buy” rating on the stock.

I think Steve Jobs' quote illustrates one of the perceived downsides of being a leader, insofar as that it's impossible to please everybody.

Being a leader includes having the courage to ruffle some feathers and question the status quo.

Ed McManus (Eddie Mac)
Author and online course creator
Relationship Leadership: How New Leaders Harness the Power of Leading
with Strong Relationships!

Mr. Jobs had a vision like no other for Apple and he put his vision into action to create an undisputed global tech giant. My question is, did he do this through strong leadership or aggressive management?

How many followed him because he was a great leader or because he was the boss and was excellent at directing traffic and connecting the dots? This is not leadership, it is management.

Unfortunately, Mr. Jobs is no longer with us. If he was, I would certainly welcome the debate of leadership versus management.

Liudmila Schafer, MD
Medical oncologist and founder and CEO at The Doctor Connect

Being a leader often involves the burden of choice.

The quote suggests a trade-off between pursuing happiness and taking on leadership responsibility. Ice cream is a universally loved treat and the act of selling it is likely to bring joy to both high and low-level employees.

As a female oncologist, I experienced many of the challenges associated with leadership. One example was when my leadership involved facilitating the personal and professional development of the physicians by designing a new peer-to-peer curriculum versus using traditional teaching in oncology.

New curriculum or implementation of new policies do not always suit everyone.

When I grew up, it was difficult to even dream about one day being a leader in the United States. The very thought seemed impossible. Decisions might be unpopular or provoke disagreement, but they are crucial to achieving long-term success.

As an oncologist, you often lead a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals. It's a lot of pressure every minute of every day.

These responsibilities as leaders are to ensure effective communication and coordination among your team members and this may involve making difficult decisions that some team members may not agree with.

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