The subtext that you seem to be overlooking here is that you shouldn't settle for 'good enough' and instead, raise your hiring standards.
>There are no B players, only people whose potential is not being brought to life, fish which are made to climb trees and then told they suck.
As uncouth as it may be, there are plenty of people who just simply aren't good enough to do a particular job. I'm sure you've worked with more than one engineer who, despite any help provided, was just not cut out to be a good programmer.
Your overall message will help someone to be a better person. I don't necessarily believe it will make them a better employer.
You can't actually hire 'B' players, you can however hire fish and then tell them go climb trees.
Employers definitely can improve, I've seen it in person. I've also seen the opposite, companies that started out ok and ended up being a total disaster due to the relationship with their employees.
The critical point is when you go beyond about 20 employees. If you can make that transition culture in-tact and respect maintained then you'll do great. But if you don't you'll never reach 50 employees and your turnover will at some point balance your ability to hire.
> As uncouth as it may be, there are plenty of people who just simply aren't good enough to do a particular job.
Sure. In reality I think both are true, and this makes the problem of building a great company even more challenging.
No organization can make someone who isn't good at something be good at it, but a dysfunctional organization can turn a genius into a B or C player. So as the builder of an organization, you are powerless to improve your people but very capable of demotivating and destroying them.
If you don't inspire people, you get B (or worse) work out of everyone. Being inspiring is the only way to get A work out of anyone, ever. Nobody works at their full potential for a "bullshit job."
There are a whole lot of letters after B. The article seems to be trying to fight the claim that non-top-performers are broken and damaging, "hopeless B players to be culled". You can't do much for people who just can't do their jobs.
Only hire A players! Fire the B players!
The subtext that you seem to be overlooking here is that you shouldn't settle for 'good enough' and instead, raise your hiring standards.
>There are no B players, only people whose potential is not being brought to life, fish which are made to climb trees and then told they suck.
As uncouth as it may be, there are plenty of people who just simply aren't good enough to do a particular job. I'm sure you've worked with more than one engineer who, despite any help provided, was just not cut out to be a good programmer.
Your overall message will help someone to be a better person. I don't necessarily believe it will make them a better employer.