&gt; While that&#x27;s certainly a problem case, I&#x27;d argue that it&#x27;s rarer than creators taking as long to deliver a project as possible (why not, it&#x27;s easier?).<p>My experiences might be unique, but I&#x27;ve never been part of a team that at any point preferred taking longer to finish something than necessary. Creators&#x27; pride is very much wrapped in how quickly they can deliver creations. So much so that it can be devastating to moral for a team of creators to miss a deadline. It&#x27;s viewed at as a failure and a sign of incompetence, even if there were valid reasons for it happening.<p>I think the important distinction to be made is the type of creation that&#x27;s happening. If you&#x27;re an assembly line worker or a subway sandwich maker, your self-identity probably isn&#x27;t tied to your job. If it takes you longer to make a sandwich or a widget than someone else but your compensation isn&#x27;t affected, then you probably will take longer because it is, like you said, &quot;easier&quot;.<p>If, however, your identity is very intimately tied to your creations, then you will care deeply about their quality and the efficiency with which you can create them. Perhaps the main problem is managers creating creators whose identities are tied to their creations like creators whose identities are detached from their creations. And with that distinction, I would agree with your statement that &quot;employees need to be managed according to their individual needs.&quot;<p>I guess because we were talking about Zappos where I think I can safely assume the creators&#x27; identities are tied to their creations, which is why I wrote my original comment from that perspective.<p>&gt; Unfortunately, I think in the the real world the highly self-motivated individuals just get recognized as &quot;talented&quot; and pushed up into management themselves. Which is probably about the most terrible outcome. :\<p>Absolutely, and I&#x27;ve seen it happen time and time again. Often those types of people aren&#x27;t very good at managing people.