Originally Posted by kane

I have seen this in action. I used to work for a big tech company. I worked in the engineering and prototype division where we developed all of the new products that they company would be manufacturing in the coming years. Some of the people I worked with were some of the smartest people I have ever known. They have forgotten more about engineering than I could ever know. But one thing all of the groups within that divsion had in common was that the managers weren't engineers. Why? Well, it seems that people who are focused on the the intellectual aspects of the job weren't good at managing people. They just wanted to do their job and be challenged day in and day out. They didn't want to worry about schedules and time sheets and bookkeeping and all that type of stuff. The division I worked in was the only place in the company that had no time cards or time sheets because none of the engineers ever remembered to use them.

To own a business you have to be good at what you do, but you also have to be strong at the social aspect of it so you can get jobs and market your business. You also have to be good at managing people. The guy who has his nose to the books and gets straight A's probably doesn't have the personality to do that.