I think it's very possible to make sound business decisions, be profitable and not be "ruthless". But it seems that the most successful (at least temporarily), are in fact, ruthless. May G-d have mercy on them. Mercy that they've not shown others.
Having or showing no pity or compassion for others. Synonyms merciless - pitiless - cruel - unmerciful - remorseless -------------- Are you working to serve the customer or the competition? You can conduct business and be ruthless against your competitor. Now if you are being ruthless to your customer, you should self destruct.
I read an article in Psychology Today that profiled successful entrepreneurial personalities.. the takeaway was that being conscientious was not part of it. I worked for a winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award for a long time though, he was very conscientious and he wound up with nearly a half billion dollars, so it's not a rule and maybe the entrepreneurs that aren't conscientious are never going to sit at the table with the hugely successful. Proverbs says "let an evil man borrow money so that an honest man can have a job". Ponder on that, it will tell you a lot.
Know what the opposite of justice is? Mercy. Witness when you see people asking for it - when they have done something wrong, realize that they deserve punishment and hope to skip it somehow.