It's close to the assumption I operate with. For a sufficiently large business, it's important to be stable/robust -- that is, to be able to withstand change.

It's close to the assumption I operate with. For a sufficiently large business, it's important to be stable/robust -- that is, to be able to withstand change. A business that's heavily reliant on individual brilliance across the board has the disadvantage of potentially collapsing if enough brilliant people leave without training equally brilliant replacements. Yes, you want some brilliant people specifically in R&D / innovation. You want brilliant people overseeing the entire system. Brilliant people in key positions might improve your overall efficiency by an order of magnitude on a particular project -- but you don't want the whole project to fall apart just because Joe moved out of state or Jane went on long-term maternity leave or Jake was hit by a bus. Microsoft does have a world-class R&D department, but they also have a lot of average code monkeys and average janitors and average HR people.