Zess should take a hint, but he's so obsessed with his duty that he probably can't. In the end he will only be left with aye aye men of little talent and psychos like that Steiner. He will lose the really reliable, talented, and smart ones. Of course much lower in the command chain there would still remain skillful individuals, but they won't be those interacting directly with him, and he would never know what they might one day pull off if they received outrageous orders.