Success is a combination of both. It’s not an either-or situation. There are many people with entrepreneurial attitudes who fail because they don’t have the ne

Success is a combination of both. It’s not an either-or situation. There are many people with entrepreneurial attitudes who fail because they don’t have the necessary skills to execute and they can’t (or won’t) hire and lead people who can execute. There are many smart people who fail in their careers because their attitude gets in the way of working with others or delivering results. This can be anything from deep cynicism about the workplace to being combative with others or even simply being an unpleasant person to be around. We like to glorify the idea of lone wolf programmers using their extensive knowledge to deliver everything by themselves, but the reality is that businesses are all about people and teams. Knowledge is part of the foundation, but interpersonal skills and leadership abilities are necessary to actually leverage those skills. People who have a lot of knowledge but who can’t execute or work well with others are really just critics operating from the sidelines.