rational intuition of what motivates people - You complement the meats of motivation (pay, meaningful work) with a leader that possess strong people skills, charisma, and you have the conditions for a potential best case scenario outcome.
Also the potential for the worst case scenario, as many charismatic dictators show.
And in two companies I worked at, the minute a charismatic, clueless bureaucrat swaggered in, took over the orgs and started barking orders (in a polite and charismatic fuck-you way), all top developers left, as if by magic.
