Xerox PARC is a great example - PARC invented everything, but very little of it was immediately commercially applicable - Good management, is what turns "people producing great things", to "people producing great things regular people can use"
Anyone with a successful research lab is a manager: they're spending a good chunk of their time herding grad students, writing grant proposals, hiring junior faculty, etc. This model works.
Xerox PARC is a great example - PARC invented everything, but very little of it was immediately commercially applicable - Good management, is what turns "people producing great things", to "people producing great things regular people can use"