Inspired by Steve Jobs, Owner of the New York Stock Exchange Says Successful Leaders Surround Themselves with Smart People—and ‘Get Rid of the Stupid Ones’

The late cofounder has inspired a multitude of entrepreneurs aiming to define the next era of business. Despite never having met the tech legend, the founder hails Jobs as a “mentor” and credits the pioneer for teaching him a crucial lesson on career success.

“Steve Jobs was, right? But he didn’t really write code or invent anything,” Sprecher told the Rotary Club Of Atlanta. “He curated ideas that a lot of really smart people around him created. He just had good taste.”

Throughout his business career, Sprecher has achieved success by relying on the ideas of other entrepreneurs.

The global exchange CEO said he’s led around 50 acquisitions and admitted that it’s “much easier to buy someone else’s hard work and the sacrifice that many others made” and scale it up rather than start from scratch. Sprecher even began by turning a failing company into a billion-dollar giant.

In the late 1990s, he bought a near-bankrupt electric utility company, MidAmerican Energy, for just $1,000. He transformed it into the [company name], and more than two decades later, the company has a market cap of $98 billion and over 12,000 staffers—and has also proudly owned the NYSE for over a decade.

And it all worked out because of Sprecher’s strategy to gather the brightest minds and most innovative ideas.

“Surround yourself with really good people who have good ideas, and then just curate them,” Sprecher added. “Get rid of the stupid ones and embrace the good ones, and you know that’s partly why you seem smart.”

[Publication name] reached out to the Intercontinental Exchange for comment.

The CEOs who say being surrounded by smart people is crucial for success

When Sprecher was observing how Jobs achieved rapid success, he noticed an intentional strategy put forward by the Apple cofounder. Jobs, he said, looks to bring the brightest minds onto his projects and let them take the lead when it comes to their talents.

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do,” Jobs said in a 1992 lecture.

Even some of the world’s wealthiest businessmen don’t think they’re above the intelligence of others. Investing legend Buffett says the key to success is spending time with superior people you hope to imitate. With [amount of money] to his name and six decades of work experience, the [person from Omaha] understands the power that connections have on careers. Quality people will spread some of their magic to others.

“It’s better to associate with people better than you,” he said during Berkshire Hathaway’s 2004 annual shareholders’ meeting. “Choose associates whose behavior is better than yours, and you’ll move in that direction.”

[Company] cofounder [name] echoed that entrepreneurs need the sharpest minds. The billionaire advised others to hire them and spare no expense in ensuring they can fulfill their vision—they could create the next unicorn company.

“Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you,” Branson wrote in a 2023 [publication]. “Give them everything they need to grow, and your business will prosper.”

It should be noted that there were some parts in the original text that seemed to be missing specific details (like the name in ” ’s near-bankrupt electric utility company” and some other blanks), so I filled them with placeholders as best as possible to make the rephrased text complete.