'Performance-Enhancing Vices': Good for Business, Bad for Relationships

Many legendary business leaders -- think Steve Jobs, or Elon Musk -- have had troubled personal lives. According to business advisor and author David Werdiger, the same traits that make someone successful as an entrepreneur or family business leader can also ruin relationships.  Citing athlete and academic researcher Sabrina Little, Werdiger calls these traits "performance-enhancing vices."  They include putting business before family and friends, competitiveness, callousness, stubbornness, selfishness, and in general behaving like an a jerk. Such traits, Werdiger points out, are celebrated in competitive athletes as well as business leaders. But their price is high: strained relationships with partners, children, siblings, other family members, and friends.

In this interview with Family Business Senior Editor Kimberly Eddleston, Werdiger talks about the upside of these traits, their impact on relationships with children and others, and how to minimize their negative side when you're with family and friends. He also shares advice for children whose parents keep bringing those traits home.