There are two key things you must practice to be a successful company leader: Care deeply about employees, while not caring what they think about you, and always be yourself, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said on Tuesday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference.
"Don't try to be liked. You build trust by being forthright and clear with them and communicating with them based on clarity. ... Don't worry about what they think about you," Costolo said. "If you are yourself and you manage by deeply caring about your people while not caring what they think about you, you will be as successful as you can possibly be."
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Leaders must also always remember that there is no one path to being successful, he said. A common problem in Silicon Valley is that there are a lot of personalities that are lionized as the perfect model for success, which ultimately leads other entrepreneurs to believe that there is some perfect template for success, Costolo said. But, the reality is there is no magic formula.
"It's critical that you internalize this fact, there are many different ways to be successful," Costolo said. "Find your individual superpower and leverage that and do that your own way."
—By CNBC's Cadie Thompson. Follow her on Twitter @CadieThompson.