There is no such thing as an A-list. If you think that you are in the A-list because you are a worldwide renown developer, you can always be better, and be one of the best developers of all times. Or one of the biggest people of all time. You can always be better.
So you think you are the best mathematician all around? You can still compete with Gauss.
I think people like Knuth, Torvalds, Carmack, etc. are the models for career development. Why would you assume that a strategy that didn't work for any of the biggest guys around would be better for you than theirs?
The list of things to do seems shortsighted to me. I can't imagine guys like Donald Knuth or Linus Torvalds caring much about agile methods and the new language of every year. I think it's more like a list of things to do that worked for him.
Other than that I agree with the main idea of the article...