In my career, I’ve had the chance to work in very different contexts: first as the cofounder of a startup where every decision mattered, then as a designer in large organizations where moving the machine takes much more effort. One thing has always struck me: brilliant people are both a blessing and… a real challenge.
Some bring incredible energy, vision, and conviction that lifts everyone up. But sometimes that same brilliance blinds, blocks, or fragments the team. That’s when management is tested: having the courage to face the situation, even if it means letting go of someone everyone considers “indispensable.”
In tech, ego is everywhere. It pushes engineers to solve the impossible, designers to defend their convictions, founders to believe their product will change the world. Without ego, no startup would survive.
But ego can quickly flip to the dark side. When being right matters more than moving the project forward. When one person dominates the room and the rest of the team no longer dares to speak up. When “brilliant” turns into “toxic brilliant.”
Ryan Holiday summed it up well in Ego is the Enemy: ego fuels ambition, but left unchecked, it becomes the enemy of progress. Jim Collins, in Good to Great, came to a similar conclusion: the leaders who build great companies are rarely charismatic rockstars, but humble, determined people.
Managerial courage is often mistaken for toughness. In reality, true courage is facing what we’d rather avoid: telling someone it’s not working out, admitting a project is going off track, or making the uncomfortable decision to let go of a talented person who doesn’t fit the culture.
Delaying these choices only creates managerial debt. Just like technical debt in product development: the longer you wait, the more problems pile up, the higher the eventual cost. And this cost is human—motivation collapses, teams fracture, energy is wasted in silent conflicts.
Kim Scott, in Radical Candor, explains that giving honest feedback and acting early is an act of respect. It takes courage, but it’s exactly what separates managers who build strong teams from those who simply endure.
Aaron Levie, the founder of Box, has shared many times that in the company’s early days their hiring strategy was simple: hire the smartest people possible. The result? Incredible speed… when things were going well. But most of the time, it was chaos: egos clashing, divergent visions, no ability to collaborate.
So they made a radical shift: completely changing their approach. Instead of hiring just for skills, they prioritized mindset and culture. As Levie himself explained in an interview, humility and cultural alignment became more important than raw talent.
The essential lesson: technical skills can be learned. Mindset, however, is much harder to change.
Let’s be honest: when managers tolerate “toxic brilliance,” it’s rarely out of naivety. It’s out of fear.
The “rockstar” culture is still strong in tech. But in the long run, it’s destructive. As the Harvard Business Review points out in It’s Better to Avoid a Toxic Employee than Hire a Superstar, these toxic profiles end up costing companies far more than they contribute.
In startups, I saw ego act like fuel: it pushed us to aim higher, to last longer. But I also saw that same fuel burn us from the inside.
In big companies, I saw the opposite: “untouchable” egos that no one dared to challenge. The result? Stifling inertia, decisions stuck in limbo.
Today, my conviction is simple: true managerial courage means putting the mission and culture ahead of individual egos—including your own. It means accepting to lose a “superstar” so the team as a whole gains strength and serenity.
Managerial courage isn’t about heroics. It’s a daily practice. Honest conversations, sometimes painful decisions, and above all, clarity about what truly matters: the culture and mission of the team.
And you—have you ever kept someone around too long, afraid of losing their skills? If so, you already know the real cost wasn’t their departure… but everything that unraveled while you waited.
