Linus Torvalds - Benevolent Dictatorship?

In an interview with the father of Linux himself, Linus Torvalds is asked some hard questions. The questioning starts out pretty basic, however they begin to become a little more revealing as the interview moves on. Check this out…

Question: “You’re clearly the leader of the Linux movement, but what does that mean? How do you lead? Are you a benevolent dictator, as some have called you?”

Answer: “To be honest, the fact that people trust you gives you a lot of power over people. Having another person’s trust is more powerful than all other management techniques put together. I have no legal or explicit power. I only have the power of having people’s trust — but that’s a lot of power.”

“I am a dictator, but it’s the right kind of dictatorship. I can’t really do anything that screws people over. The benevolence is built in. I can’t be nasty. If my baser instincts took hold, they wouldn’t trust me, and they wouldn’t work with me anymore. I’m not so much a leader, I’m more of a shepherd. Now all the kernel developers will read that and say, ‘He’s comparing us to sheep.’ It’s more like herding cats.’”