Management and the Befuddling of Engineers

From the Financial Times yesterday by one of my favorite management writers Andrew Hill - Selecting a Know-All Chief Executive Is Just Plan Dumb:

"It took only a few years running a business for Mr. Gates to realize he had made a colossal error, one that would have doomed Microsoft had he pursued it.  "By the age of 25, I knew that IQ comes in different forms," he said.  "[Understanding] sales and management seems to be negatively correlated with writing good code or understanding physics equations.  That was befuddling for me.""

Developing engineering leaders needs less the physics equations and more of the search and development of initiative, creativity, charisma, flexibility, and organizational ability that make up the befuddling attributes.