In short: Absolutely not! Making important work doesn’t excuse agressivity and impolitness. I've had worked both with dicks and lovely leaders and great work happened despite people being dicks, not because of them being it.

A figure that is often taken as an example in the startup and design world is Steve Jobs. He made great work possible but it’s very clear that he was an absolute dick.

I feel that seeing how successful Steve Jobs was has given the excuse to other leaders who like a though and aggressive approach to go full on with these negative attitude instead of finding calm ways of working.

It’s as if they told themselves: « If we’re not successful enough it’s that I’m not yet fully in Steve Jobs mode. »

I’ve work with both leaders who are dicks and leaders who have a calm approach. And I can say from my experience that I’ve been able to do good work with both. But the work that I’ll remember as the most impactful is work that I’ve done with the calm leaders.

So, no you don’t have to be a dick to make great design or service design work happen with a team. Great work happens despite leaders being dicks, not because of it.