Good idea, but bad approach.
Whatever your environment is, your state of mind will follow. So, yes, becoming more familiar with ruthlessness by getting more in touch with it will make you ruthless. But that's the lazy, unconscious way to do it.
Instead, you can learn how to influence your state of mind regardless of environment. You can learn to be ruthless in normal circumstances, and you can learn to be anything else for that matter. However, you can't force the shift. You would need to have an authentic desire for ruthlessness (or whatever you want), and then by cultivating it and allowing it to manifest through your emotions, it'll start manifesting in your life.
Again, you can't just think a thought that you want to become something and then make it a reality. Authentic desire is essential.