Linus Torvalds: the refreshingly different tech leader
The creator of Linux is a textbook example of a tech nerd. And yet, he’s refreshingly different from most high-profile figures in the industry. Here’s my attempt to do this maverick justice.
There are plenty of tech CEOs I consider unlikeable. The only things they care about are money and power, with new technology merely serving as the means to that end. Despite this – or perhaps precisely because of it – they never miss an opportunity to portray themselves as do-gooders. The current AI craze is just the latest chapter of a long-established playbook: collect as much data as possible (illegally if you need to), cobble something together that nobody asked for, then force it onto the market by any means necessary.
In their efforts to rally up support, many Silicon Valley moguls act like cult leaders. Faith – in the future and in the notion that technology will make everything better – is key to this effort. More importantly, so is having faith in one’s own success and superiority.
The big exception
None of this even remotely applies to Linus Torvalds. Which is definitely not to be taken for granted. He’s a typical nerd, who, like his counterparts, spent many years living in Silicon Valley. True to the stereotype, his nerdiness also includes poor social skills – something he, for a long time, had no interest in changing. In other words, he had all the makings of a garden-variety tech asshole.
Torvalds’s work, however, is motivated by something completely different. He’s not interested in getting rich. He doesn’t care about being portrayed as a genius or the saviour of planet Earth. In fact, he likes being surrounded by people who’re smarter than him. He’s not an egomaniac, not cut out to be a cult leader. Torvalds doesn’t take himself too seriously; he has a sense of humour. Why else would a journalist think to ask him the ten goofiest questions he could think of?
His appearance on the show hosted by the tech world’s other famous Linus offers good insight into his personality. He comes across as honest, and not consumed by ambition like all those careerists. When he says his life isn’t particularly stressful, I believe him. I also believe his assertion that it’s absolutely fine to be lazy – and that if someone does something better than him, he doesn’t need to try to copy them.
Incidentally, Torvalds isn’t exactly strapped for cash. His net worth is estimated at roughly 50 million US dollars. Mind you, that’s peanuts compared to Elon Musk’s absurd wealth, estimated at more than a trillion.
Cause and effect
Linux is a free operating system – open-source and free of charge. It isn’t backed by a profit-driven company that has to consistently generate record growth on the stock market. As a result, Torvalds has the freedom to present himself differently in public and in his working life.
However, the fact that there’s a non-profit underpinning Linux is more of a consequence than a cause of Torvalds’ character. Linus was Linus before Linux existed. He could’ve done a Bill Gates and used his programming skills to become CEO of a billion-dollar company. Or at least tried to. But he didn’t. Why? Because he simply wasn’t interested in doing so. He never believed it would make him happy.
Torvalds recounts his career in the book Just for Fun, a kind of autobiography, written in collaboration with journalist David Diamond. I consider the book a credible source because, unlike Silicon Valley CEOs, Torvalds is completely incapable of sugarcoating anything. In fact, as I was reading it, I got the impression he was making some things sound worse than they actually were.
The Finland factor
Linus Torvalds grew up in Finland. The northern European nation is fundamentally different from the US in many ways. In some ways, the two countries are actually almost complete opposites. And that has had an impact on Torvalds.
Finland is more egalitarian, less focused on cutthroat competition. Private schools are few and far between there, with state schools enjoying a very good reputation. For most of their time at school, students aren’t separated by academic ability. Torvalds grew up as a nerd among non-nerds. He wasn’t the most respected or popular student, but – as far as I can tell from his self-deprecating description of his school years – he wasn’t bullied either. The only person bothered by his very large nose was him; the other kids had their own issues to worry about. Plus, everyone else had pretty terrible fashion sense too.
Torvalds first came into contact with computers through his maternal grandfather, Leo Waldemar Törnqvist. In 1981, at the age of 70, Törnqvist bought himself a Commodore VIC-20.
Finns are generally tech-savvy, Torvalds writes, pointing to his compatriots’ legendary reticence. With such a widespread aversion to face-to-face communication, he explains, Finland is the perfect market for mobile phones.
According to Torvalds’ description, Finnish winters are boring due to the constant cold and darkness. «But there was one indoor activity that got me through the winter: programming.»
As was customary in those days, you had to write your own programs for the VIC-20 to make it do anything at all. Torvalds started programming because he was interested in it and enjoyed it – something that still seems to be the case today.
Fun as motivation
The introduction to this book is one of the funniest things I’ve read in the last few months. It takes place in a car with the now-adult Torvalds and his family. One of his daughters needs the toilet, the other wants a chocolate ice cream and his wife needs a cup of coffee. As all of this is transpiring, Linus and his co-author are talking about the concept of the book itself. Linus’s idea:
We can, in the first chapter, explain to people what the meaning of life is. We get them hooked that way. Once they’re hooked and pay for the book, we can just fill up the rest with random crap.
And, assuming that «random crap» is Torvalds’ life story, that’s exactly what they do. Undeterred by questions about whether his daughter’s nappy needs changing or whether there’s enough petrol in the tank, Torvalds expounds on his theory of life. He says there are three motivational factors for everything people do, progressing in a particular order. The first motivator is survival. Once that’s sorted out, the focus shifts to securing your position in the social order. Then, once that’s settled, things become about entertainment.
When David asks how this ties into the meaning of life, Torvalds is unable to answer. In the end, he says:
What this builds up to is that in the end we’re all here to have fun. We might as well sit down and relax, and enjoy the ride.
Fun is a key driver behind Torvalds’ work – a more important one than money.
Name calling and middle-finger flipping
That’s not to say Torvalds doesn’t take his work seriously. In fact, he maybe sometimes takes it too seriously. One of the programming genius’s controversial traits is his notorious capacity for angry outbursts. If Torvalds is unhappy about something, he usually expresses his dissatisfaction pretty undiplomatically. And that’s putting it mildly. The Torvalds known for giving Nvidia the middle finger, calling people who’ve worked on the kernel for years «wankers» and telling developers to shut the hell up would do well to «sit down, relax and enjoy the ride» for a change.
Yes, these outbursts are occasionally funny. Especially when they’re not aimed at you, but at people who truly deserve it. I definitely think some of Torvalds’ past outbursts were a kind of PR stunt.
Source: Screenshot: YouTube/SiliconNews
The thing is, Torvalds hasn’t always directed his ire at people who deserve it. His cuss-filled tirades became a problem when he was working on the Linux kernel. Since he posted them on the Linux kernel mailing list, most of them were also public. Torvalds defended his communication style as typically Finnish, describing politeness as useless or even insincere. Subtlety, he said, would be detrimental when trying to be heard amidst the noise of the internet.
Despite the growing criticism aimed in his direction, Linus refused to see sense for a long time. But then he made a surprising pivot.
A moment of self-reflection
In 2018, Torvalds apologised for his behaviour over the years. His cavalier e-mail attacks, he said, were unprofessional and inappropriate, especially when they were personal. Explaining he lacked understanding of other people’s emotions, he announced he’d be taking some time off to learn the art of empathy and responding appropriately to others.
Naturally, he didn’t change overnight. After supposedly missing the annual Kernel Summit as a result of a scheduling mishap, Torvalds admitted being pleased to miss the event, stating he’d secretly hoped he could stay well away from it. He didn’t get away with his transgression. More importantly, his failure to attend the event – and the joy he felt about it – forced him to reflect and served as a starting point for numerous conversations. In the process, Torvalds realised he’d completely misjudged some people and their motives.
I also think Torvalds underestimated the weight his voice carried. He’s the ultimate authority when it comes to the Linux kernel. Someone in his position doesn’t need to make a big fuss to be heard. And of course, it’s possible to speak plainly without insulting or hurting people. Another thing he probably failed to realise is that insults drive away valuable people, leaving a vacuum to be filled by ones who enjoy hurting others.
In an e-mail to the BBC, Torvalds explained the reasons behind his change of heart in slightly more detail. It wasn’t just internal squabbles that tipped the scales. It was also his realisation that more and more people he wanted absolutely nothing to do with were taking his side.
«I may have my reservations about excessive political correctness, but honestly, I absolutely do not want to be seen as being in the same camp as the low-life scum on the internet that think it’s OK to be a white nationalist Nazi, and have some truly nasty misogynistic, homophobic or transphobic behaviour.»
Quintessentially Finnish real talk.
Source: Andrew McGown
Linus Torvalds is still Linus Torvalds
Torvalds didn’t emerge from 2018 as a completely different person. He made that clear himself right from the start. Torvalds is and always will be a nerd who’s more interested in technology than in human emotions. He’s simply learned a few things and worked a little on his behaviour.
Though still known to rant and rave fairly often, his tirades are less frequent and probably more selective than before. In one instance about three years ago, he turned on someone who randomly referred to The New York Times as «woke communist propaganda». Given how highly anti-woke warriors value the freedom to dish out insults, it’s fitting that Torvalds dubbed them a «moron of the first order».
All in all, I think Torvalds is probably slightly clumsy when it comes to communication. Or, as he himself would probably put it, a «f***ing idiot». But on the whole, he’s a good guy. Not to mention a refreshing contrast to shiny tech billionaires with their investor-friendly babble.
My interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.
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