Here’s a thought experiment I’d like you to complete
“We only hire A players.”
“We run a keeper test every six months.”
“We weed out B players.”
“We’re obsessed with 10x engineers.”
All in the name of building a high-performance, talent-dense culture.
Cool. Here’s the thought experiment.
Every time you hear that kind of talk from your founders, imagine the opposite.
Reverse everything. What would that company look like compared to the A-Player elite Ivy League squad of every VCs sauciest dreams? (apart from more diverse of course...)
- We only hire A players → We hire people with a range of skill sets. We run a keeper test every six months → We invest in your development. We weed out B players → We believe performance can grow over time. We’re obsessed with 10x engineers → We don’t rank people by letter, like produce. If you aren’t an A-player you’ll stick out like a sore thumb and we’ll manage you out → We create a culture of trust, not fear.
Now ask yourself:
Which company would you rather work for?
More importantly, which company do you think excellent engineers would choose?
Because the more I look, the only people pushing the A-player narrative are never the engineers.
They’re always the founders and the execs.
I know a lot of really excellent engineers, and I don’t know any who subscribe to this stuff.
So I’m asking you directly:
A-player tech culture does it help or hinder building a great tech org long term?
Do engineers actually vibe with it?
I’m being a bit sassy on purpose here, because I’d love to hear a range of perspectives.
Would genuinely love your thoughts.
Luke Update
RecFestUK
Last week I braved the heat to speak at Recfest on the tech hiring stage sponsored by the awesome team at Hackajob. Summary
1. RecFest organisers were great. even in the blazing heat there were enough amenities to make you want to stay there.
2. Everyone was talking about or selling AI. I think mine was one of the only talks not about AI.
3. Jim Miller from Ashby gave the best talk, it was a practical framework for building an AI strategy for TA. I will be using this liberally.
4. Pinpoint had the best swag.
AI in TA & HR
I'll be leading an in person workshop on AI in TA in London on 31st of July. Its free to attend so if you are in town and want to come along, shoot the breeze or grab a beer, register here or message me on LinkedIn.
Details below
Well... that's issue forty nine! If you have any questions about it, or any feedback on this issue of The Data Driven Recruiter, grab me on LinkedIn for a chat.
I'll see you next week!