I really dislike the term “A player.” It implies that there is some grading system that can determine who will be best for a position. HR people always ask me how Netflix manages to hire only A players. I say, “You know, there’s this island that’s populated exclusively by A players, and only some of us know where it is.” Making great hires is about making great matches. One company’s A player may be a B player for another firm, and vice versa. There is no generic formula for what makes people successful, despite a great deal of effort and all sorts of assessments to try to come up with one.
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