I'm sorry but this vision of a "thinker" who is always imagining the future so he can "out-innovate" his competition is a little ridiculous. PG's point is a psychological one: many of the founders he encounters are lack the self esteem to thrive when they have control.

The startups that win do so only very rarely because a visionary founder innovatively guessed the future trajectory of culture. In my opinion being good at running a company mostly requires the usual mix of soft skills plus a strong, unconflicted motive to succeed.