> A company could put a top man at every position and be swallowed by a competitor with people only half as good, but who are working together. I don't disagre

> A company could put a top man at every position and be swallowed by a competitor with people only half as good, but who are working together. I don't disagree, but I really hate that it's not wrong. It keeps me up at night, frankly. The seemingly most successful companies I have worked for have had tons of the most incompetent people doing the most bureaucratic bullshit. I'm not sure it can be blamed on "synergy" though as much as bureaucracies liking to give money to other bureaucracies making the whole thing a self supporting bureaucratic ecosystem. I'm not sure if it should be taken as something to reach for as the article implies or a cautionary principle. Given the choice I'd certainly rather work for the first company.