It probably wasn’t always fun to play with Michael Jordan

Great athletes, writers, artists and entrepreneurs can be uncomfortable to engage with.

Great athletes can be demanding. Great writers can be obsessive. Great artists can be intense. Great entrepreneurs can be fanatic.

They demand greatness from both themselves and those around them; and they understand that greatness is inherently unbalanced.

Greatness makes mediocracy uncomfortable. It forces mediocracy to level up or get the hell out of the room.

If you want to be great—and you want to inspire others to be great—you must let go of your need to be universally well liked.