these guys are all great at what they do. But running an organization of at most a couple hundred people people with at most two or three layers of management between top and bottom, and running an organization with tens of thousands of people with dozens of layers of management between top and bottom are two different animals.
Are there things one can learn from another? Absolutely. But Steve Jobs would run the New England Patriots into the ground in three months, and Bill Bellicheck would do the same to Apple.
And President B.O. will run the whole country into the ground in three months.
But running an organization of at most a couple hundred people people with at most two or three layers of management between top and bottom, and running an organization with tens of thousands of people with dozens of layers of management between top and bottom are two different animals.
I believe it was Sun Tzu who wrote, in the Art of War, that "management of the many is much the same as management of the few; it is largely a matter of organization." Even Reagan said to "surround yourself with good people, and delegate." The thought process that these things are radically different is, in my opinion, one of the greatest sources of corporate stupidity.