I'm impressed. Lots of excellent comments from Oppostate, Frank, LisaRose and Steve2, as well as others. Having said that, the chicken Ted Talk has some truths, but it is also very simplistic and not completely transferrable to human teams. The Dark Lords seem to be employing a very successful strategy used by Jack Clarke, the CEO of G.E. from 1981 - 2001. Welch understood that the Pareto principle, aka the 80/20 rule, almost always exists in organizations - and nearly everything else in life. In other words, 20% of a company's employees do 80% of the work. These 'stars,' if you want to call them that, are vital to a company's success (or government, church, etc.).
From Wiki: Under Welch's leadership, GE increased market value from $12 billion in 1981 to $280 billion, making 600 acquisitions while shifting into emerging markets. Welch worked to streamline GE, eradicating inefficiencies by trimming inventories and dismantling the 9 layer management bureaucracy, closing factories, reducing payrolls and cutting lackluster units. And rewarding the 'stars.'
Each year, Welch would fire the bottom 10% of his managers, regardless of absolute performance. He rewarded those in the top 20% with bonuses and stock options. Welch also strongly believed that upper management, the leaders, deserved all the glory and $ they got, and he wasn't at all concerned with the disparity.
It seems that the Dark Lords have hired an efficiency and management consultant; from what I hear you all say, the Dark Tower's changes the past few years are strikingly similar to Welch's reforms.