, Columnist
What If Silicon Valley’s ‘Brilliant Jerks’ Are Just Jerks?
Brilliance doesn’t have to go hand-in-hand with bad behavior.
Anthony Levandowski was considered a visionary, until he wasn’t.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Silicon Valley has a split personality about “brilliant jerks.” These are the kind of abrasive, boundary-pushing executives whom the industry (and often the media) lionizes — until they push boundaries too far and are kicked out of the tech Garden of Eden.
Consider Anthony Levandowski, a former executive in Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving vehicle project whom the U.S. government charged this week with stealing the company’s trade secrets.