Historically, it seems that the same characteristics that make people colossal douchebags also help make them successful businessmen. There was a study a few years back that showed a lot of CEOs were psychopaths, for example. Being willing to take advantage of people and having a driven workaholic personality helps people climb that corporate ladder.
I think a more informative question would be “Why can’t a person be both a successful businessman and not a colossal douchebag?”
Historically, it seems that the same characteristics that make people colossal douchebags also help make them successful businessmen. There was a study a few years back that showed a lot of CEOs were psychopaths, for example. Being willing to take advantage of people and having a driven workaholic personality helps people climb that corporate ladder.