Being a CEO is a demanding job. A CEO needs to be able to inspire and engage with their staff and get the best work out of people, whether they’re running a small startup or a multinational corporation.
They are expected to drive profits, increase business and answer to a board of directors and often to shareholders. If they’re in charge of a startup, they may feel pressure from investors to produce revenue.
Not surprisingly, CEOs are usually people who can disrupt traditions, create change, take risks and try new things. However, sometimes people in these positions can take disruption, risky behavior or trying new ideas too far, and their actions just seem plain crazy to the rest of us. These are the 30 weirdest CEOs who stand out for having behaviors or habits deemed crazy, eccentric and, at times, undeniably controversial.
Why He’s One of the Weirdest CEOs
During the week, Jason Kingsley runs one of the U.K.’s largest gaming companies, Rebellion Developments, which he started and owns with his brother. The company is known for producing computer games Alien vs. Predator and 2000AD.
On the weekends, Kingsley loves to joust, the sport of medieval European knights, which involves riding on horseback, wearing armor and charging at opponents with a weapon called a lance. He says he runs his company, and his life, by the traditional knight’s code of honor: bravery, honesty and kindness. Kingsley keeps a stable of 13 horses and owns custom suits of armor that cost $35,000.
Why He’s One of the Weirdest CEOs
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
Peter Thiel is an entrepreneur, hedge fund manager and venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal, Palantir Technologies and Founders Fund, a venture capital firm that has invested in Airbnb, Stripe and SpaceX. He was the first outside investor in Facebook.
Thiel also set up the Thiel Foundation to fund research in artificial intelligence and life extension because is obsessed with biotechnologies that can extend life. He wants to live to 120 and experiments on himself with life-extension biohacks. Thiel takes small amounts of Human Growth Hormones, which stimulates cell repair, and injects himself with blood from young people, a procedure called parabiosis. And, yes, you read that right.
