2023-10-11 Wednesday - Today's mediation: "A" vs. "B" and "C" Players

[My corresponding LinkedIn post]

Today's meditation:
If you think there is no distinction between "A" players vs. "B" and "C" players - either you have not been around long enough - or you lack the basic skills to assess quality talent.

Here are some suggested clues to help you identify the players:

"A" players:
1. Execute consistently
2. Deliver results
3. Their quality is consistently exceptional
4. Can quickly assess/identify other "A" players
5. They actively and instinctively mentor others - and can help elevate a "B" to "A" level; or a "C" to "B"
6. Their presence can elevate an entire organization
7. They break logjams
8. Insatiably curious - constantly expanding/renewing their skills.
9. Actively seek to collaborate, communicate, document, share
10. Easily and quickly focus on what matters, what will move the needle, what is essential

"B" players:
1. Execute inconsistently
2. Frequently make excuses for why they didn't deliver
3. Their quality is not consistently of a high degree - sporadically produce exceptional results
4. Have difficulty discerning "A" vs. "B" talent - and will sometimes end up hiring "C" players
5. Have difficulty mentoring others - or lack the interest/initiative/drive to mentor others
6. In the absence of any "A" players - they can actively impede the growth of an organization
7. They nibble at logjams
8. Minimal investment in personal growth, very low level of curiosity, skills atrophy over time.
9. Expend the minimum effort in collaboration, communication, documenting, and sharing
10. Have trouble identifying what matters, where to focus, what will move the needle, and what is essential.

"C" players: 
1. Consistently fail to execute
2. Consistently fail to deliver
3. Their quality is consistently at a sub-optimal level
4. Do not realize their incompetence (re: Dunning–Kruger)
5. Actively impede attempts to mentor/improve a team
6. Are only able to hire "C" and "D" players ("A" and "B" players will decline job offers from a "C" player)
7. They create logjams
8. No curiosity, have no interest in investing in personal/professional growth, skills are consistently insufficient for their role.
9. Consistently demonstrate zero effort in collaboration, communication, documenting, sharing.
10. Excel at focusing on things that do not matter, that create the appearance of work - but does not actually produce value, and have no clue what is essential. 



Suggested Reading: 

2005 

• HBR: "A Players” or “A Positions”?: The Strategic Logic of Workforce Management

2024

• 2024-09-16 MrBeast’s leaked PDF: "I only want “A Players"
• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YaG9xpu-WQKBPUi8yQ4HaDYQLUSa7Y3J/view 
• (see pages 4-5)
• https://cybernews.com/news/mrbeast-leaked-pdf-spills-secrets-how-to-be-successful-on-youtube/
• https://medium.com/@samuel.sperling/the-mrbeast-formula-16-secrets-every-youtuber-needs-to-know-for-viral-success-d1d16360e7db 

"As I type this I realize it may not be the wisest to categorize everyone into 3 buckets but this is how I believe we should look at everyone a part of the production team. You’re either an A-Player, B-Player, or C-Player. There is only room in this company for A-Players. A-Players are obsessive, learn from mistakes, coachable, intelligent, don’t make excuses, believe in Youtube, see the value of this company, and are the best in the goddamn world at their job. B-Players are new people that need to be trained into A-Players, and C-Players are just average employees. They don’t suck but they arn’t exceptional at what they do. They just exist, do whatever, and get a paycheck. They arn’t obsessive and learning. C-Players are  poisonous and should be transitioned to a different company IMMEDIATELY."