Bob Sutton has written a thought-provoking article called Crappy People versus Crappy Systems that discusses the importance of good systems and the misguided emphasis on hiring great people as the panacea for all of a company’s woes.  In other words too many businesses:

focus excessive energy on hiring stars and weeding-out mediocre and poor performers, and insufficient energy on building a great system that enables most competent people to succeed.

The system, not the people, matter most.  As he explains:

some systems are so badly designed that when smart people with a great track record join them, it seems as if a “brain vacuum” is applied, and they turn incompetent. Jeff often jokes that this is what happens to many business school deans, and indeed, these jobs have so many competing and conflicting demands that they are often impossible to do well.

The entire post is worth a read.