We love the myth of the lone genius — the brilliant dev who codes faster than everyone else combined.
In reality? They skip documentation, bypass reviews, and hoard knowledge. They’re the only one who understands critical parts of the system. Everything starts funneling through them. They become the gatekeeper, the savior, the bottleneck. They make themselves indispensable.
People respect their skills. Juniors idolize them. But they set the wrong example: heroics over responsibility, ego over collaboration.
Worse, admiration turns into paralysis. Teammates think: “I’ll never be as good.” So they stop growing, avoid decisions, and hand all important work to the “genius.” Dependency grows. The toxic loop reinforces itself.
Meanwhile, the diva picks only “interesting” projects. Boring or maintenance work? Beneath them. Product makes a call they don’t like? They undermine it — they “know better.”
Talent without humility is poisonous. They burn trust, kill morale, and good people leave. A “10x dev” who drives away two teammates is actually –10x.
You can’t scale brilliance. Brilliance is linear. You can scale collaboration: knowledge sharing, clear code, reviews, teaching, context, trust. That’s how a team compounds.
The real high performer isn’t the hero who hoards importance. It’s the team player who multiplies everyone else.
Stop worshipping the lone genius. Start rewarding the multiplier.