That's true. It's also true that a single person can destroy the productivity of 10 other people no matter how talented and motivated those other 10 are. I think that is the point the article is trying to make.
Well, I thought that the cornerstone quote of the article was this:
"Deep technical competency is overrated compared with the ability to make excellent decisions and to create a culture where forward motion is valued and personal initiative is rewarded."
And, on average, I don't find that deep technical competency is overrated compared to...well, he's talking about social skills here.
At every stage of the hiring and interview and HR process, the deck is stacked in favor of social skills and social advantages. Is it better to be 25% more competent or to be 6 foot 3 inches tall at a job interview? The answer is unfortunately the second a lot of the time.
Yes, there are cases where one bad apple spoils the bunch and you need to get rid of him. In my experience, the bad apples are far more likely to be managers than technical people (think about it: what sort of person wants to boss others around?).
I see a much larger risk, for a medium-sized to large company, of driving out technical expertise by focusing too much on interpersonal skills. In fact, this may be exactly why larger companies tend to stagnate.
Smaller companies that survive more than a year or two already know how to focus on talent.
