Jobs was known for being ruthless and controlling, rude and ill-tempered, driven by a desire for perfection, and pushing people to bring products out before they were ready, creating enormous strain within the organization. The OG “mean girl.” Many people couldn’t tolerate working for him, and I’m sure he missed out on a lot of talent for this reason. But despite that – or possibly because of that – he was able to build one of the world’s most iconic brands and successful companies.

I’m not sure that level of “disagreeableness” is necessary for us mere mortals running small businesses vs. enterprise builders like Jobs. Still, I do know this: FAR too many business owners tolerate FAR too much from too many people: employees, vendors, clients, or otherwise!

One of the reasons so many people loved the character Tony in The Sopranos was because, deep down, they secretly wished they had his backbone and confidence, not taking anything from anyone AND bold enough to do something more than simply holding a grudge against someone who wrongs them.

I’m not suggesting his level of corruption, anger or response is good or healthy. That’s not my point. What I’m saying is that many people would do far better in life if they were unafraid to stand up for themselves, not allowing themselves to be affected by critics and instead becoming a more imposing, respected alpha leader, unafraid of speaking their mind and standing their ground.

This translates directly to the security of your business. If you cringe and fear taking a stand for yourself, failing to draw a HARD LINE to protect yourself and your organization, you WILL be taken advantage of. It’s really that simple. There are many people out there with their agendas who aren’t going to give a rip about you. Many want to take you out, harm you, and damage you for their gain, particularly cybercriminals, whose job it is to capitalize on YOUR hard work. To steal YOUR profits. To sneak into your network and steal YOUR data, putting on the line your livelihood and everything you’ve spent years of blood, sweat, and tears building.

As a business leader, you must assume a Tony Soprano–level toughness about this. ZERO tolerance for it: be awake and alert, look for such enemies at the gate, and get rid of them before the damage they do is irreversible. Further, it would be best to protect yourself by putting the necessary protections in place to prevent those who harm you from getting into your network in the first place. The cold, hard truth is that, at the end of the day, as a leader in your organization, if you’re the victim of a cybercrime, YOU will be the one they blame. Your tail is on the line, and reporters won’t be timid about blasting that headline all over the news.

Business isn’t all about being tough on others – it’s also about innovation and driving your company forward, using the best strategies and best practices of those who lead the way, including protecting what you’ve built. It can all be taken away with one wrong mouse click if you don’t have the foresight to get ahead of the problem.

Book a 10-minute Discovery Call with our team of experts for a free IT Risk Assessment to stay ahead of the cybercriminals and ensure you're protected. We’ll analyze your network to identify any vulnerabilities and provide you with a plan of action to fix them. This assessment will give you the peace of mind to do what you do best and focus on growing your business.

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