Glenn Jacobs, better known as Kane in WWE, compares the leadership styles of Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon, and Triple H and how they've all shaped WWE's past, present, and future.
Glenn Jacobs was recently on the Freedom Pact podcast and discussed what it was like to work for Vince McMahon. Glenn started with WWE in 1995 and would become one of the company's longest tenured and most successful wrestlers before leaving the squared circle behind to pursue a political career decades later.
When discussing working for Vince McMahon, Jacobs said that he learned a lot about what to do as a leader and much about what not to do as a leader.
"As far as Vince, he was a great mind. I learned some good things from him. I also learned some things that I'm like, 'That's not how I would do things,' So you learn both. 'Okay, this is something to emulate, and this is something that I shouldn't do,' just leadership styles, when Vince and I are obviously very different in that. It certainly wouldn't work for me. I don't think that's how you do things," Jacobs explained. "One of the things that I've become really passionate about is learning about leadership, and I really do believe that organizations rise and fall on the quality of their leadership, and team building, and doing all those things that I think, if you often think, are cliche, right? But they're not. I mean, it's vitally important.
"I look at WWE now, under the leadership of Triple H, and it's just, wow. I'm so proud of everything that he's been able to do with his own style of leadership," he continued. "Just almost taking the company to another level altogether. Vince is one of the great entrepreneurs in history. I don't think he gets enough credit for that, and it's not just in the wrestling business, just in entertainment, you know? He was very visionary, and he could just see things that none of the rest of us could see at the same time."
The former WWE Champion praised Linda McMahon as a savvy business mind who could take Vince McMahon's ideas and shape them into practical applications.
"You have the great entrepreneur, and often what you see is that their partner in business and in life is the business person," he said. "That was true of Henry Ford. Everybody remembers Henry Ford as the visionary. Henry Ford wasn't a great business guy. His brother was the great business guy who took Henry's ideas and made them practical, and that's what really led to the success of Ford. That's Linda McMahon. She was the same way in WWE. A lot of folks, you think WWE, you think Vince. A lot of folks don't realize how important she was, especially in the early years, as the business person who is running the back office operations. That's also something, again, going back to the team, though, yeah, everyone thinks Vince, He's the face. Well, the thing about Vince was that he always had a great team around him. One of the most important people was Linda."
When asked if he would describe Vince McMahon's leadership style as autocratic and Triple H's as transformational, Jacobs agreed and explained that Triple H can approach issues with a more wrestler-centric mindset because he is a wrestler.
"I would say that. I think the difference is Triple H was one of the guys and understands the locker room, understands the mentality of the locker room, you know? Vince, again, he was a great visionary, a very good business person, but he was always a promoter. He was always outside of the locker room. So, yes, you do have those two very different styles now, both successful in their own ways. I think now, especially with the trajectory that the company's on, because of Triple H is leadership, and it's going to go places it's never even been before. The company's."
A representative for Linda McMahon recently confirmed that Linda and Vince McMahon are separated. Learn more here.
Janel Grant, a former WWE employee, filed a lawsuit in January 2024 against Vince McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis. The lawsuit accuses McMahon of sexual assault and sex trafficking. McMahon resigned from TKO/WWE following the lawsuit being filed.
Victim Resources:
National Sexual Assault Hotline
Hours: Available 24 hours
1-800-656-4673
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