I keep hearing these conversations in tech: "Oh, they're definitely an A-player" or "We only hire A-players here" or "He is a

A-Players - Scale & Signal

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2025-01-18 13:30:06

I keep hearing these conversations in tech: "Oh, they're definitely an A-player" or "We only hire A-players here" or "He is a world-class talent." I'm always a bit skeptical. My cultural background has trained me to question everything (it's in my DNA at this point, but that's a story for another essay).

Growing up, I was that kid winning physics olympiads while struggling with literature and languages. Like really struggling. My language teacher was constantly escalating to the school director, treating everything like a crisis that needed immediate intervention. But I got lucky – our director was different. Instead of trying to "fix" me, we made an agreement: I show up to language classes instead of hiding in the physics lab doing exercises, and she would shield me. No pressure about results, just be present. Later, computer science won over physics – that’s not on her, that’s the essay about incentives and economics.

Want to understand what I mean? Watch "The Last Dance" about Jordan and the Bulls. Seriously, if you're a manager and you haven't watched it, stop reading this and go watch it now. It's the best management course you'll ever take – just $5 instead of $200,000 for your typical MBA.