Rules for Managing Creative People

This article was obviously not written by a creative person. I can't wait for their article on how to manage "nerds".

"Surround them by semi-boring people"

This might be true if your define "creative" as "primadonna who can't handle being challenged". I think there is a real synergistic effect when creative people collaborate.

"Pay them poorly."

Low pay will motivate them alright- to find another job.

I believe those studies found that if you started paying someone for something they were already doing for free (i.e. they didn't consider it work), you reduced their motivation. I don't think those studies can be construed to mean that paying someone below market will make them more motivated.

This is how NOT to manage creative people.

The guys took characterizations of a creative person and applied the norms of traditional hierarchical management to them. It's like when you patch a bug..he patched everything about the creative person without actually looking at the big picture. I cannot believe this is on a normative source like HBR.

"Pay them poorly."

I was with them until this. There's no reason to treat a valuable person as a throwaway, and poor pay does that.