You don't need to be a jerk. In fact, if you're a real jerk, it's probably not going to be half the product you want it to be. Here's the trick. You've hired s

You don't need to be a jerk. In fact, if you're a real jerk, it's probably not going to be half the product you want it to be. Here's the trick. You've hired smart people, right? These folks aren't just grunts (not that anybody is); they're creative individuals who happens to be highly skilled in areas that you value. And you're paying them. So given that, if you don't listen to them, or if you make them feel like they aren't valued members of the team, simply put, you're wasting money. Listening to them, however, is not the same as acting on what they say. Widening the gene pool of ideas is smart; losing focus is not. You know what you want to see, and you know what the end goal is, and your role as a manager is to motivate your team to aim for that. You need to guide them towards the finish line, while simultaneously keeping control over the end product and giving them a sense of ownership. After all, if someone feels like the product is (in part) their baby, and if they have a sense of shared responsibility with the rest of the team, they're going to work harder, be more free to come up with potentially groundbreaking ideas, and be more likely to come up with something that makes people sit up and take notice.