Imagine what it’d be like if every time you stepped out of a car or into a room, thousands of fans screamed excitedly and applauded, or if every time you designed a new gadget, people stood in line for hours just to be the first to buy it. And whenever someone took a picture of you walking your dog or grocery shopping, it would sell for thousands of dollars. Such is the amazing lives of celebrities today, so it’s no surprise that most of them have egos roughly the size of Texas. But even within this elite, self-satisfied group are those who believe that their star shines just a little bit brighter than everyone else’s. It’s a wonder some of these famous faces can even fit their inflated heads through regular doors.
Biggest Ego in Business: Steve Jobs
On the 1996 PBS television program “Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires,” Jobs was described thusly: “With this guy, we’re not talking about someone driven by … a desire for an opulent retirement at the age of forty. No, we’re talking holy war; we’re talking rivers of blood and fields of dead martyrs to the cause of greater computing.”
In 2010, Jobs is still a leader as celebrated for his innovation as he is reviled for his cockiness. His stubbornness about extending iPhone usage to non–AT&T customers, as well as his outright refusal to add helpful programs, like Adobe Flash, to the platform because he feels that they’re not worthy of his product, has earned Jobs many critics. (And he openly—and personally—criticizes them right back.) But not once has his giant ego wavered—even after Apple booted him back in the ’80s because of his inability to cooperate with others. Instead, now that he’s positioned himself as Apple’s savant, he’s even less willing to listen to anyone else, because he obviously knows best.
Ego-riffic quote: “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better.”
Biggest Ego in Music: Kayne West
In a genre that includes 50 Cent and Diddy, it’s no small feat that West is now known as the biggest egomaniac in the hip-hop world. He’s called himself the “voice of this generation,” which might be why he felt justified in interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards to tell her and the millions of other people watching that Beyoncé deserved it more. That’s when his narcissism went from being mildly amusing to downright disgusting. But perhaps there’s hope yet—at the 2010 VMAs, he said that he wrote a song specifically for Swift: “I wrote a song … that’s so beautiful and I want her to have it. If she won’t take it then I’ll perform it for her,” he wrote on Twitter. Pretty selfless, huh?
Ego-riffic quote: “I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.”
