by David Quick
Thursday Thoughts: Are You Actually Surrounded by A-Players… or Just Fooled by Familiar Faces?
3 min 3 sec read
Thursday Thoughts Ep. 1: Are You Really Surrounded by A-Players?
Welcome to Thursday Thoughts, a new series where I share unfiltered insights from a week in the trenches — working with real CEOs, real teams, and the very real challenge of trying to build something that doesn’t crash under its own weight.
This week, we’re talking about a sacred cow in leadership circles: the “A-player.”
Spoiler: most people who think they have one… don’t.
Everyone Thinks They’ve Got a Dream Team
Ask any leader how their team’s doing, and you’ll hear something like:
“Oh, I’ve got a great team.”
Sure. And the Cleveland Browns thought they were fielding a solid squad in 2017. We all saw how that turned out.
Here’s the thing — how we see performance determines how we rate performance. If we’re convinced we’re already amazing, we stop evolving. We coast. And worst of all? We promote mediocrity because it’s familiar and comfortable.
This week, we’re talking about a sacred cow in leadership circles: the “A-player.”
Spoiler: most people who think they have one… don’t.
You Might Be Evaluating a “10” on a 5-Point Scale
Craig Houston (fellow Pinnacle guy) shared a brilliant analogy: The Law of the Lid.
You can’t see past the limits of your own evaluation system.
That team member you think is a “10”?
Might actually be a “5” — you just don’t know what a “10” looks like yet.
It’s like watching someone win a dance-off at your cousin’s wedding, then realizing they’re representing your country at the Olympics. And then watching them get smoked by someone who moonwalks across your worldview.
Real A-Players Aren’t Quiet Quitters
In a recent Vistage session, one of my CEOs praised a team member as an A-player.
Later in the same day, that person casually mentioned the project under this “rockstar’s” leadership was a year behind..
Look, A-players don’t miss by a year. They come to you and say:
“I’m over capacity. Something’s going to break. Where do you want it to break?”
That’s called strategic failure — the smart kind. B-players fail at the wrong things. C-players don’t even notice they’re failing.
The Numbers Don’t Lie (But We Often Do)
You want something concrete?
- Harvard Business Review says A-players deliver 2–4x the output.
- Steve Jobs claimed it was 100x.
- At one of my companies, we ranked warehouse workers by shipments/hour and error rate — clear A-players popped right off the chart.
And if you're thinking, “Well, you can’t really do that for my team,” my response is: Why not?
If you don’t know who your best people are, how are you leading anything?
Lazy Leadership: My Favorite Kind
Here’s the part nobody tells you: when you hire real A-players, you do less.
Seriously. You stop fixing things. Stop filling in gaps. Stop checking your inbox at 9:47 p.m. wondering why Karen didn’t follow through (again).
You lead.
You define the vision.
You reinforce the values.
You raise the bar.
I call it Lazy Leadership — not because you don’t care, but because you finally stop carrying the whole business on your back.
Final Thought: If You Can’t Afford an A-Player, You Can’t Afford to Stay Stuck
“That was the best money I’ve ever spent.”
So… what’s holding you back?
Your comfort zone? Your budget? Your fear of being shown up by someone who’s better than you in one area?
Let’s talk about it.
Contact me here, or leave a comment — I’d love to hear how you're thinking about A-players in your world.
Thanks for tuning in to Thursday Thoughts. See you next week — same time, slightly sharper truth.
Lead Boldy. Succeed Brilliantly.
Leadership is not just a role. It’s continuous journey of growth and impact.
