I think it's interesting how little statistical or empiric information is around to underpin argument in this space. So, that said, I guess I am just going on e

I think it's interesting how little statistical or empiric information is around to underpin argument in this space. So, that said, I guess I am just going on experience when I say that good managers can make an average team into a good one and bad managers can turn great teams into poor ones. I think that the value added can be large and the value destroyed significant. Thinking about a team of 6 contributors and one manager six folks delivering at the differential good vs poor seems to me to be likely to be much greater than the whole value of one person who is delivering at "excellent". 2 * 6 * x > 10 *x ? Also 6 is a reasonable team size, but in reality I think very strong team managers tend to attract more staff and handle them efficiently up to much higher numbers (in the past I've been part of functional teams >14) Senior management (managers of managers) can have much greater multiplicative effects. Turning a poor manager into a good one (or getting rid of the so and so), helping good managers really shine, and setting the right agendas and behaviors (don't be a jerk, talk about your stuff, fess up fast) and most of all empowering people and getting them to believe in a future can make 100's of people go from delivering 0 value to delivering scores of millions in a few years.