There is a famous old military quote on this topic: "There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are

There is a famous old military quote on this topic: "There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent -- their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and lazy -- they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent -- he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief. " The qualities of a student and an engineer vs. say, a good hacker or product manager are wildly different. For a large organization, you need reliable and focused people to keep it running, where for a startup, you need to find and actualize outlier potential.