That's a bit like saying a car with a flat tire is better than a car with a dead engine. Sure, one might get you a little bit further than the other, but neither one will get you very far regardless.

Know what's better? A person who is respectful (albeit not always popular) and gets things done.

I've seen far more projects pushed to a successful completion by assholes than "nice" people, so either assholes are statistically much more productive (making your "better" person basically irrelevant) or we have a vastly differing definition of "asshole".

I might agree about the better person being basically irrelevant, but I've seen a lot of projects run into the ground by assholes - I guess my basic point is that being an asshole is only weakly positively correlated with being a competent manager.

I disagree. Assholes can potentially do a lot more damage than someone who's merely worthless.

An asshole who gets things done has to work on their own.