Thinking about this a bit more, I think a 10x is like one of those maths proofs that says "I can prove it exists, but I can't tell you what it is!" I "10x" was

Thinking about this a bit more, I think a 10x is like one of those maths proofs that says "I can prove it exists, but I can't tell you what it is!" I "10x" was originally intended as a hypothetical talking point. There probably are 10x people in a team. The 10x status could change rapidly as circumstances change, team dynamics and company goals change. Someone else might take the invisible 10x crown once they get to work on a project that aligns with their strengths. At any time you don't know who to 10x is. You need some system to decide what is a fair salary and who you want to try hard to keep. A good manager should have a feel for who that is in their team. If that person moves into another company they may not be that person anymore in the new team. So 10x probably exists (as defined as ratio of best to worse). If it didn't exist it means that most people are pretty much performing the same, which I don't believe. But I doubt anyone is permanently a 10x contributor, and I doubt many people (include the 10x-er themselves) can tell who it is.