In The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl Streep’s character, über-critical boss-from-hell Miranda Priestly, pulls no punches regarding her reputation as a difficult boss. In fact, she revels in being difficult and attributes the success of the fashion magazine she runs to her cutthroat nature.

But could she have been a cuttthroat boss AND a good boss? The short answer is yes, of course. The longer answer? Yes, and it may be the best thing for your business, too!

That said, let’s really define cutthroat. According to the dictionary, when used as an adjective, it means “Ruthlessly competitive; dog-eat-dog.” By that definition, you can absolutely be a cutthroat good boss. Being ruthless about your customer service, quality of goods and delivery of products to your customer is something every boss should have top-of-mind.

But like Voltaire and Spiderman’s Uncle Ben said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” And with that responsibility, sometimes, you have to make the hard decisions, like whether or not to fire an employee.

New York Times “Thinking Entrepreneur” columnist Jay Goltz, recently spoke to a group of small family business owners and was asked “How do you balance a nurturing environment with being cutthroat?” Read Goltz’s insightful answer here.