The A-Player Standard

A client called me last week, frustrated. He'd just let someone go after 14 months. "I knew in the first 90 days," he admitted. "But I kept hoping they'd turn around."

That's not a hiring problem. That's a standards problem.

Most owners don't actually have an A-player standard. They have a preference. They know what great looks like when they see it, but they've never written it down, never made it concrete, never held it as a non-negotiable line in the sand.

So when someone comes in at a B-minus, they tell themselves it's close enough. The role gets filled. The pressure goes away. And 14 months later, they're back on the phone with me, having the same conversation.

Here's what I've seen in companies that actually scale without the owner carrying everything: they define the A-player standard before they hire, not after. They know exactly what outputs matter, what behaviors are required, and what the bar looks like at 30, 60, and 90 days. And when someone doesn't meet it, they act on that information instead of hoping it changes.

Tolerating B-players doesn't just slow your growth. It signals to your best people that mediocrity is acceptable. And eventually, your A-players stop caring, or they leave.

The standard you hold is the culture you build.

So here's the question worth sitting with: do you actually have a written A-player standard for every key role in your business, or are you just hoping you'll know it when you see it?

---

From "The Owner's Almanac" - 90 days to build a business that runs without you. Available on Amazon.