The Leader Mindset #50

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The Fallacy that “A Players Hire A Players”

Several years ago, I watched an “A-level” executive make a bad hire.

This leader was known to be one of our highest-performing executives. He was respected, delivered results, and built strong teams. People across the organization trusted his judgment. So, when he was hiring for a new Vice President, no one questioned his judgment.

By all indications, he made another great decision. The top candidate had all the right qualifications: a strong résumé, clear upward trajectory, and stellar references. He came across as confident and likable to everyone in the interviews.

Unfortunately, the assessments flagged a potential risk related to ego and dominance. This should have been a flashing red light. These results were discussed briefly and then rationalized away. “Bold leadership was what the business needed," the leader said.

Within weeks, the new leader started criticizing existing processes without first understanding them. He openly questioned his peers’ competence. Quickly, people stopped working with him. We tried coaching, but the problems continued.

Six months later, he was gone.

Why Hiring Matters So Much

Hiring is leverage.

When you hire the right person, work gets done better, problems are solved faster, and everyone shares responsibility. Leaders have more time to focus on strategy rather than on fixing performance issues. Standards rise because capable people expect more of themselves and others.

When hiring goes wrong, the opposite happens. You have to make up for gaps. You step in more often. You are constantly spending time coaching on the same issues. Top performers start resenting how they are taking up the slack.

Early in my career, I rushed to a hiring decision because my team was overwhelmed. The candidate interviewed well and seemed capable. I trusted my gut and moved fast. Soon, deadlines were missed, and work was not to standard. Instead of recognizing my hiring mistake, I spent months trying to coach the person up to the required level.

Eventually, the individual needed to be let go.

I spent much more time trying to fix this hire than I would have spent on a careful hiring process in the first place.

Why We Overestimate Our Selection Skill

Many people believe that A players hire other A players, while B and C players hire people like themselves. This idea sounds logical but there is no evidence to support this.

Most leaders believe they are good judges of talent. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a leader say, "I really felt good about that interview," but when I asked why, they could not provide concrete examples. Often, we interpret presence, communication style, and chemistry as indicators of competence.

Also, familiarity can be misleading. Leaders often gravitate toward candidates who think similarly or share comparable backgrounds. In addition, there is a persistent belief that strong coaching can close almost any gap. While skills can be developed, foundational traits such as judgment, learning agility, and ownership are far more resistant to change.

Sadly, one of the biggest culprits for overconfidence is that many leaders have never been trained in how to evaluate talent systematically. Just because an A talent is a high performer, does not mean they can assess these capabilities in others.

Without assessment structure, intuition dominates, and intuition is inconsistent and often wrong.

Here is how to be disciplined with hiring, rather than only relying on intuition.

Using Discipline Over Intuition to Hire

If great hiring does not happen on its own, it has to be intentional.

1. Define outcomes with precision. Go further than just job descriptions. Pick three to five key results that will show success in the first year. Be clear about how complex decisions will be, who the main stakeholders are, and what business problems the role should solve. If you cannot clearly define what great looks like, you cannot hire for it.

2. Structure your interviews. Ask candidates to talk about real situations from their past that are similar to the job. What decisions did they make? What tradeoffs did they consider? What pushback did they get? What results did they achieve? Look for patterns in their answers, not just one-off stories.

3. Separate polish from substance. People who speak well often do great in interviews, but that does not always mean they can execute or work well with others. Dig deeper. Ask follow-up questions. Ask about failures, not just successes.

4. Involve multiple perspectives. Bring in peers or leaders from other teams to help with hiring. Encourage open talks about risks. If someone raises a concern, look into it rather than ignoring it just to keep everyone happy.

5. Hold a consensus meeting. Too often, candidate evaluations end with interviewers submitting their interview notes with broad individua individual impressions. Bring the interview team together and compare observations.

6. Distinguish coachable skills from core traits. Be honest about what can really change. Skills can get better with feedback and experience. But things like temperament, learning ability, and sense of ownership usually stay the same.

7. Take assessment data seriously. If good assessment tools show possible warning signs, check them out carefully. Do not ignore them just because the interview went well.

The Standard You Choose

The idea that A players always hire other A players makes hiring seem simpler than it is. Great hiring is not about being brilliant. It takes patience, humility, and discipline.

You cannot control the market or what competitors do. But you can control who you hire for your team, and that choice shapes your culture, your performance, and your reputation far more than just about anything else you can do as a leader.

Andy Noon, PhD

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Andy