> And because geniuses understand complex things, they design complex systems that no one understands. Their loneliness makes them unique masters of their subjects, thereby nurturing their self-esteem. Knowledge remains in their heads and their presence becomes necessary for every decision.
This is of course true, a genius can do this. But given so can just about anybody else given enough time. We have a name for it when a non-genius does it: people built up technical debt that no one else is across. About the only difference between the genius and everybody else is the genius can create this gap faster than most.
Which should be a hint what the cure is, and it isn't getting rid of the genius. (I'm sure Elon Musk would be rolling his eyes at the thought, or possibly rubbing his hands in glee if you are a competitor or his.) The cure is to set up the code review systems and documentation so everyone is across what he is doing. In effect you demand he spend the time dragging everyone up to his level. If he is a true genius, he will have broken things down into clear, distinct, modular lumps, that everyone else can digest now he's walked the path for them.
The article is right in saying that solution isn't taught in technical classes. It's a social and cultural issue. That probably why it blamed the genius, and not the culture.
Few companies are going to pay them differently for that effort, so they'll just likely leave. This situation is probably long-term worse for morale because there's no collective sense of accomplishment and instead everyone's betting their stability on one person.
If someone's too far ahead of everyone else in terms of skill (through their own work or talents), they should be given opportunities to find or create a team with similar skills. Just because you happened to join a team with different skill levels does not mean you're now obligated to teach everyone else. It's great when people decide to teach others when there's a large skill gap, but that should be a personal choice.
Perhaps but working for a company, they don't want genius specifically, they want results, and not to be locked into some code that if one person leaves they are stuffed.
Being good at many disparate things when you are young is a very rare combo in general. It takes time to become very good at anything. Someone who has had enough time to be both a technical genius's and learnt how to relate to the many and varied personalities out there would be a remarkable find indeed. It's not at all surprising a young person would look around their peers, and decide such a thing is very rare.
But the gift of time comes with age. Coincidently so does the gift of wisdom. Maybe wisdom is merely a word for having had the time to gain a good understanding of many aspects of the human condition.
> And because geniuses understand complex things, they design complex systems that no one understands. Their loneliness makes them unique masters of their subjects, thereby nurturing their self-esteem. Knowledge remains in their heads and their presence becomes necessary for every decision.
This is of course true, a genius can do this. But given so can just about anybody else given enough time. We have a name for it when a non-genius does it: people built up technical debt that no one else is across. About the only difference between the genius and everybody else is the genius can create this gap faster than most.
Which should be a hint what the cure is, and it isn't getting rid of the genius. (I'm sure Elon Musk would be rolling his eyes at the thought, or possibly rubbing his hands in glee if you are a competitor or his.) The cure is to set up the code review systems and documentation so everyone is across what he is doing. In effect you demand he spend the time dragging everyone up to his level. If he is a true genius, he will have broken things down into clear, distinct, modular lumps, that everyone else can digest now he's walked the path for them.
The article is right in saying that solution isn't taught in technical classes. It's a social and cultural issue. That probably why it blamed the genius, and not the culture.