a few random thoughts: 1) generally I agree with the author (Bill Taylor), a team of pretty good people can beat a couple of stars, over the long term, if they play well together
2) he's not being fair to Zuckerberg and the rest: their quotes are about comparing 5 stars to 5 *mediocre* people, not to 5 *pretty good* people which is what Taylor is talking about. Especially in programming, worse-than-average people make things harder for you, by creating technical debt and causing more problems than they solve. So it's a different issue there. 3) A different but related point is that it reminded me of a book I've skimmed, Talent is Overrated http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Overrated-Separates-World-Class-Performers/dp/1591842247 which contends that people aren't really "talented" as in being born with an ability, all the best people are trained over years, have a very strong work ethic, and are willing to get back up when they fall over. These are the marks of a true "talent", and only a small part of that is about genetics. The same ideas are discussed in Gladwell's "Outliers" and a few other books that have been popular over the last few years. Brendan. On 22 June 2011 06:11, Ruchir <ruc...@langoor.com.au> wrote: > Hi all, > > I read a fascinating article today - > http://blogs.hbr.org/taylor/2011/06/great_people_are_overrated.html > . > > I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were on this article. > > Thanks, > Ruchir -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
