As someone who has worked in a place with a similar attitude, I think I understand what he meant.
The stuff I saw:
1. People will not do easy yet impactful tasks. Everyone will try to solve a challenging problem, even if its effect on the bottom line is negligible. Folks who solve simple problems that bring in a lot of money are less likely to be promoted. At times, an easier solution was actively campaigned against by someone whose brilliant pet project would be impacted.
2. Highly valuing individual technical ability often ends up with devaluing team cohesion. In the place I worked, the people were very capable and smart. But the teams were not that effective. If something went wrong, people were less likely to see how existing policies and the organizational structure led to these problems, and instead focused more on which individuals were to blame. Everything - success or failure - was at the individual level.
So I do not think he meant that a company should not value individual technical ability. But if they value it more than effective team management, etc - I would not work there. Been there, done that.
This just means management sucked at recognizing real talent. Real talent includes knowing how to pick low-hanging fruit, knowing how to make the challenging problem look simple, knowing how to work with a team.
The stuff I saw:
1. People will not do easy yet impactful tasks. Everyone will try to solve a challenging problem, even if its effect on the bottom line is negligible. Folks who solve simple problems that bring in a lot of money are less likely to be promoted. At times, an easier solution was actively campaigned against by someone whose brilliant pet project would be impacted.
2. Highly valuing individual technical ability often ends up with devaluing team cohesion. In the place I worked, the people were very capable and smart. But the teams were not that effective. If something went wrong, people were less likely to see how existing policies and the organizational structure led to these problems, and instead focused more on which individuals were to blame. Everything - success or failure - was at the individual level.
So I do not think he meant that a company should not value individual technical ability. But if they value it more than effective team management, etc - I would not work there. Been there, done that.