4 ms·

I really liked his distinction between A, B and C-team players. This could be a really good framework for recruiting in an ambitious startup.

RandomThoughts3 2y ago
I personally deeply disliked the semi-cult like explanation that anyone moving out was basically not good enough to be there in the first place. Apart from that, it's the good old Netflix playbook: empower managers to remove adequate team members with good severance to give space to good team members. The danger is letting it deteriorate into stack ranking if you are not careful with the deleterious effect on team work associated.
ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago
[flagged]
- dang 2y ago
  You can't post flamebait like this to HN, regardless of which country you have a problem with. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: it looks like we've been having to ask you to stop breaking the site guidelines for years: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39281820 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39281820 (Feb 2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35656288 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35656288 (April 2023) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34844518 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34844518 (Feb 2023) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18585046 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18585046 (Dec 2018) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18575831 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18575831 (Dec 2018) Continuing like this is eventually going to get your account banned. I don't want to ban you, so if you'd please review the rules and stick to them, that would be good.
  - ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago
    Sorry this was uncalled for.
guywithahat 2y ago
I was thinking that too. It’s something you don’t hear much from YC but a lot of founders have similar corporate hiring policies.
null0pointer 2y ago
I hope everyone here who is praising the A, B, C-player framework recognizes that it comes from Jack Welch’s much criticized Vitality Curve system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality_curve#Ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality_curve#Ratings
- simonw 2y ago
  I don’t see much similarity here, other than the use of those three letters and the idea that Cs should be removed from the company. The MrBeast As are rated on their ability to learn - which is surprisingly a characteristic that’s not mentioned in the Welch model. MrBeast Bs are As who haven’t got there yet - Welch Bs are not expected to get there. MrBeast Cs are reasonably capable but are missing out on that crucial learning instinct - again, not mentioned by Welch, who has Cs who are incompetent procrastinators.
  - joshdavham 2y ago
    I agree that they're not perfectly similar, but I strongly suspect that MrBeast's idea stemmed from the Welch model. They are suspisciously similar haha
    - simonw 2y ago
      I think it’s likely that the idea of A, B and C players is pretty widespread to the point that MrBeast was exposed to it, and that Jack Welch was the person who first popularized using the first three letters of the alphabet to categorize employees.

RandomThoughts3 2y ago

I personally deeply disliked the semi-cult like explanation that anyone moving out was basically not good enough to be there in the first place. Apart from that, it's the good old Netflix playbook: empower managers to remove adequate team members with good severance to give space to good team members. The danger is letting it deteriorate into stack ranking if you are not careful with the deleterious effect on team work associated.

ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago

[flagged]

dang 2y ago
You can't post flamebait like this to HN, regardless of which country you have a problem with. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: it looks like we've been having to ask you to stop breaking the site guidelines for years: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39281820 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39281820 (Feb 2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35656288 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35656288 (April 2023) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34844518 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34844518 (Feb 2023) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18585046 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18585046 (Dec 2018) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18575831 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18575831 (Dec 2018) Continuing like this is eventually going to get your account banned. I don't want to ban you, so if you'd please review the rules and stick to them, that would be good.
- ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago
  Sorry this was uncalled for.

guywithahat 2y ago

I was thinking that too. It’s something you don’t hear much from YC but a lot of founders have similar corporate hiring policies.

null0pointer 2y ago

I hope everyone here who is praising the A, B, C-player framework recognizes that it comes from Jack Welch’s much criticized Vitality Curve system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality_curve#Ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality_curve#Ratings

simonw 2y ago
I don’t see much similarity here, other than the use of those three letters and the idea that Cs should be removed from the company. The MrBeast As are rated on their ability to learn - which is surprisingly a characteristic that’s not mentioned in the Welch model. MrBeast Bs are As who haven’t got there yet - Welch Bs are not expected to get there. MrBeast Cs are reasonably capable but are missing out on that crucial learning instinct - again, not mentioned by Welch, who has Cs who are incompetent procrastinators.
- joshdavham 2y ago
  I agree that they're not perfectly similar, but I strongly suspect that MrBeast's idea stemmed from the Welch model. They are suspisciously similar haha
  - simonw 2y ago
    I think it’s likely that the idea of A, B and C players is pretty widespread to the point that MrBeast was exposed to it, and that Jack Welch was the person who first popularized using the first three letters of the alphabet to categorize employees.