The funny thing about this is that there are plenty of people who would call PG mean. He's famous for having no filters on his opinions so he's at least rude and if he thinks an idea is dumb he doesn't just say so, he will usually have an apt analogy as to how dumb it is. He gets away with this by being right more often than not. In contrast Jessica is nice. In fact she's super nice. Her criticisms are no less insightful but they are presented with careful (seemingly effortless) social grace.
"Mean" though is a very imprecise term. I would much rather he use the phrase 'malice.' Or even better 'malice' and 'schadenfreude.' PG is mean in the way that the weather is mean, it can hurt if you're not prepared but it's not out to get you. And it's likely people interacting with PG are careful not to demonstrate malice or schadenfreude because he is someone they wan't to have a good opinion of them.
Even given all that though, the basic thesis that successful people are somehow less likely to demonstrate fewer negative valence personality traits is born out by no research I know of. Here is some popular media coverage of the matter.
"Mean" though is a very imprecise term. I would much rather he use the phrase 'malice.' Or even better 'malice' and 'schadenfreude.' PG is mean in the way that the weather is mean, it can hurt if you're not prepared but it's not out to get you. And it's likely people interacting with PG are careful not to demonstrate malice or schadenfreude because he is someone they wan't to have a good opinion of them.
Even given all that though, the basic thesis that successful people are somehow less likely to demonstrate fewer negative valence personality traits is born out by no research I know of. Here is some popular media coverage of the matter.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikone/2013/10/are-ceos-an...