Many execs will tell you the same thing about their role in the eco-system.. but what they miss is that they do not need for this to be a zero sum game. i.e. Achilles does not want to be king, and he certainly doesnt want to concern himself with collecting taxes. He will gladly serve as a soldier to a king who proves himself worthy. This ties in pretty closely to Paul Grahams thoughts on your super hackers and remuneration:
"Economically, this is a fact of the greatest importance, because it means you don't have to pay great hackers anything like what they're worth. A great programmer might be ten or a hundred times as productive as an ordinary one, but he'll consider himself lucky to get paid three times as much."
