I gave a talk on this very topic a few months ago. Here are the slides: http://www.slideshare.net/priestc/the-kanye-quotient http://www.slideshare.net/priestc/t

I gave a talk on this very topic a few months ago. Here are the slides: http://www.slideshare.net/priestc/the-kanye-quotient http://www.slideshare.net/priestc/the-kanye-quotient Basically, some people have a knack for managing, others have a knack for creating. Put a creator in a management position, and they will suck. Put a manager in a creator position, and they will suck. The trick is to put the right people in the right roles, and to make sure you're hiring both types of people. Managers prefer hiring other manager-type people, and creators prefer hiring other creator-type people. Often you have companies that are either heavy manager based (where nothing gets done), or are highly creator based (where the office environment is miserable due to conflicts and ego). Both companies are bound to fail.