Working with smart people

Now, there is a project going to do. As a project manager, you have a choice of two groups, each of which includes five people. One group consists of smart people, those of whom are talented but not easy to manage. The other one is composed with less smart people, easy managing but lack of new ideas. What will you choose?

I prefer the former. Two reasons for that. Firstly, I like to see the intelligent spark in a team. New and different ideas are appreciated in a project. Though there might be a risk that most of the time talented people are hard to get along with other smart people and a conflict may be caused. But is that the reason why we should adapt risk management? Secondly, cooperating with smart people(I'd like to use 'cooperate with' instead of 'manage') can stimulate my personal improvement. Because if you want the project successful, you have to be as smart as these people, even smarter than them. In the article How to Manage Smart People, Scott Berkun also mentions it.

However, in real world, usually we have no choice. If unfortunately you are working with some people without passion or opinion, you should have skills to motivate them. That's why project manager must have various skills to lead the project succeeding within different situation.