3 ms·

I think a lot of people fall for this kind of fallacy (no offense meant to your acquaintance). 1/ You really cannot grade absolute values on a curve. As others

by vaidhy 4y ago

I think a lot of people fall for this kind of fallacy (no offense meant to your acquaintance). 1/ You really cannot grade absolute values on a curve. As others have pointed out, your A players are only in comparison to others in your team. Maybe they are actually C players, who knows? Maybe they are A players only in the environment you created etc, etc.. 2/ And a more important point is that a lot of work is being done by people that are not A players. Whom I would call net positive is only in relationship to what I can measure. I know of many people in my team who were not exceptional at software, but got things done due to building relationship with other teams, ability to see things to completion etc. I think Amazon fell into the trap that only type A personalities get things done and I see it in other places too. It is easy to see the extremes, but a lot of times the glue that holds things together is almost invisible. It is hard to gauge value and I personally am refusing to judge anyone (to the extent possible).

beambot 4y ago
Projecting the exec's effectiveness onto the exec (e.g. "A/B/C Player") is woefully unfair, and my acquaintance & I would never intentionally suggest otherwise. Their effectiveness (positive, neutral, negative) is determined by a great many factors outside the individuals control -- e.g. company's size, growth rate, org structure, personnel, industry, etc. The exec's success or failure isn't an indictment of their abilities, just that they're (in)effective in this organization at this particular moment in time. It's on the founders / CEO to recognize this, manage expectations, continuously communicate, and ultimately to force a transition if necessary. Luckily, most execs know the score. This is also why exec's have such generous exit packages: both parties can admit they made a mistake & separate amicably.

by vaidhy 4y ago

beambot 4y ago

Projecting the exec's effectiveness onto the exec (e.g. "A/B/C Player") is woefully unfair, and my acquaintance & I would never intentionally suggest otherwise. Their effectiveness (positive, neutral, negative) is determined by a great many factors outside the individuals control -- e.g. company's size, growth rate, org structure, personnel, industry, etc. The exec's success or failure isn't an indictment of their abilities, just that they're (in)effective in this organization at this particular moment in time. It's on the founders / CEO to recognize this, manage expectations, continuously communicate, and ultimately to force a transition if necessary. Luckily, most execs know the score. This is also why exec's have such generous exit packages: both parties can admit they made a mistake & separate amicably.