Is that necessarily a bad thing? If Gates or Jobs acted unwantonly despotic, then the checks and balances are in place for their removal. Sometimes, reputations speak for themselves and must be respected as a function of following a leader.
No it's not. I don't think anyone but Jobs could have made the deal with Microsoft that help save Apple[1]. Just like only Nixon could go to China.
Could any other CEO besides Hastings transitioned Netflix from a DVD business to a streaming media business, and on top of that spend millions of dollars developing a set top box and then decide at the last minute it wasn't in their strategic interest to sell it and spin it off (Roku). The same could be said about Bezos and Amazon.
[1] No the money MS "gave" Apple didn't save them. Continued software support with Office and IE helped a lot.
