Who

Who Plot Summary

Introduction

Who is your number one problem. Not what. Think about it: how many of your current challenges stem from having the wrong people in critical positions? Even the best strategies fail when executed by mediocre talent. Most managers spend their careers chasing "what" problems—better processes, smarter strategies, cutting-edge technologies—while overlooking the fundamental "who" issue at the heart of their struggles. Consider the case of Nate Thompson, CEO of Spectra Logic. Despite thorough interviews and careful resume reviews, he consistently hired people fundamentally unsuited for their roles. One particularly awful hire even embezzled $90,000 in commissions. The consequences extended beyond financial loss—Thompson couldn't even enjoy family vacations without constant work interruptions managing problems created by mis-hires. His story illustrates what research confirms: the average hiring mistake costs fifteen times an employee's base salary in hard costs and productivity loss. The good news? This problem is entirely preventable with the right approach.

Chapter 1: Create Scorecards: Define Success Before You Begin

A scorecard is your blueprint for hiring success—a document that transforms the theoretical idea of an "A Player" into practical requirements for a specific position. Unlike traditional job descriptions that focus on responsibilities and qualifications, scorecards define what success actually looks like in a role. They specify the mission (why the job exists), outcomes (what must be accomplished), and competencies (how the work should be done). Bank One provides a powerful example of scorecard importance. When James Crown and John Hall were leading the search for a new CEO, they initially worked with vague criteria—"experience, strong general management, knowledge of regulation." Their recruiter, Andrea Redmond, insisted they refine these generic requirements into something actionable. During the process, they discovered significant disagreement among board members about what the role actually required. One executive wanted someone to integrate existing business plans, while his manager insisted they needed a visionary who could create entirely new strategies. This fundamental disconnect nearly led them to hire the wrong person before they paused to clarify what success would truly look like. Scorecards prevent this scenario by forcing clarity before the hiring process begins. They consist of three essential parts. First, the mission—a brief executive summary of the job's core purpose, stripped of corporate jargon. Second, outcomes—specific, measurable results the person must achieve (like "grow revenue from $25M to $50M by end of year three"). Third, competencies—behaviors and skills required both for the specific role and alignment with company culture. Nick Chabraja, CEO of General Dynamics, learned the importance of hiring specialists rather than generalists the hard way. "Early in my tenure I made that choice with a very capable executive. He was innovative, creative, and a splendid business developer. But that was not my problem. We had a huge backlog and I needed someone who could run operations." By hiring the wrong type of talent, operating margins actually declined despite growing sales. The lesson? Even brilliant people fail when their specific talents don't match the specific job requirements. Scorecards also help ensure cultural fit—a critical factor one-third of the executives interviewed identified as crucial. George Hamilton of the Institute for Sustainable Communities shared how his organization once hired a brilliant, passionate change agent who single-handedly convinced a government to implement an AIDS prevention program. Yet this high-performer was "an unbelievable pain to work with" because he couldn't collaborate in their team-oriented culture. Despite his talents, they ultimately had to let him go. When implemented systematically, scorecards become powerful management tools that cascade throughout an organization. They translate business strategy into role-specific outcomes for each position, creating alignment and accountability at every level. Most importantly, they force managers to make deliberate choices about what truly matters for success in each role—before the interview process begins and biases can take hold.

Chapter 2: Source Effectively: Build a Pipeline of A Players

Getting great candidates doesn't happen by accident. The traditional hiring process—waiting for a vacancy, panicking, posting a job description, and hiring whoever shows up—virtually guarantees mediocrity. The most successful executives interviewed for this book view recruiting as an ongoing priority, not an occasional event. They are always sourcing, always identifying talent before needs arise. Patrick Ryan, who grew Aon Corporation from a startup to a $13 billion company, exemplifies this approach. "I am not really smarter than the next guy," he explained. "I guess the one thing that I have done over the years that is different from most people is that I am constantly on the hunt for talented people to bring into my company." Ryan personally set a goal of recruiting thirty people annually to Aon and asked his managers to do the same. His method was refreshingly simple: whenever meeting someone new, he would ask, "Who are the most talented people you know that I should hire?" He captured these names and systematically stayed in touch with promising candidates, building relationships long before positions opened. This approach to sourcing through referrals emerged as the clear winner in our research. A remarkable 77% of industry leaders cited it as their most effective technique for finding A Players—yet paradoxically, it's the least practiced among average managers. Selim Bassoul, CEO of Middleby Corporation, leveraged employee referrals to double his business over five years. "Our employees became our number-one recruiting technique," he said. "We told them, 'If you spot somebody like us, at a customer, at a supplier, or at a competitor, we want to hire them.'" The result? Employees referred 85% of Middleby's new hires. Beyond personal and employee networks, successful companies "deputize" friends of the firm as unofficial talent scouts. BSMB, a multibillion-dollar buyout fund, created an extensive network of senior executives who receive fee-free investment opportunities in exchange for helping source talent. Early-stage companies often establish advisory boards partly for this purpose, offering small equity stakes to people who can make introductions to potential A Players. External recruiters remain valuable for executive searches, but their effectiveness depends on how much you engage them as partners. Ed Evans, SVP of Human Resources for Allied Waste, advises: "Give them enough of a peek under the kimono so they really understand who you are as a firm and as a person. Recruiters who do not understand who you are will be counterproductive." The key challenge in sourcing isn't knowing what to do—it's establishing a system to manage the process and maintaining the discipline to follow through. Some executives use index cards to track candidates, others use sophisticated software. Regardless of method, the most successful leaders schedule regular time—typically thirty minutes weekly—to identify and nurture relationships with potential A Players. During these sessions, they review their talent list, make calls, and always end conversations by asking for more referrals. One of the most dramatic examples of effective sourcing comes from Bank One's recruitment of Jamie Dimon as CEO. With their company underperforming, board members James Crown and John Hall worked extensively with recruiter Andrea Redmond to first clarify what they needed, then source widely. They not only evaluated candidates from their network but also interviewed people who weren't even interested to gain market intelligence and additional referrals. When they identified Dimon as their top choice, they persisted despite initial resistance. Dimon's candor and capabilities ultimately led to his hiring—a decision that doubled Bank One's value before its merger with JPMorgan Chase.

Chapter 3: Select with Structure: The Power of the Who Interview

Traditional interviewing is surprisingly ineffective at predicting job performance. Research examining thousands of studies confirms what many managers intuitively sense: unstructured conversations, trick questions, and gut feelings lead to hiring mistakes roughly half the time. The A Method resolves this through a structured sequence of four interviews that build upon each other. The selection process begins with a screening interview—a brief, phone-based conversation designed to quickly eliminate obvious mismatches. This 30-minute call focuses on four essential questions: What are your career goals? What are you really good at professionally? What are you not good at or not interested in doing? Who were your last five bosses, and how will they rate your performance on a 1-10 scale when we talk to them? Notice the phrasing of the final question—"when we talk to them," not "if"—which encourages candor. As Adam Meyers of Halma PLC discovered, rigorous screening saves tremendous time by ensuring only promising candidates advance to more intensive interviews. The centerpiece of selection is the Who Interview—a chronological walkthrough of a candidate's career lasting 1.5-3 hours. Unlike traditional interviews that focus on hypothetical scenarios or rehearsed answers about strengths and weaknesses, the Who Interview systematically explores what the person was actually hired to do in each role, what they accomplished, what went wrong, who they worked with, and why they left. This approach reveals patterns of behavior that strongly predict future performance. Matt Levin of Bain Capital explains: "Boards make mistakes when they don't take the time to learn the story of the person. If you want to enhance your predictive capabilities, you have to really understand their story and their patterns." The Who Interview is particularly powerful because it combines a conversational style with rigorous data collection. Candidates enjoy telling their stories while interviewers gather crucial insights about how they actually perform. One particularly striking example occurred during a Who Interview for a VP of sales being considered for a CEO position. When asked why he left a previous job, the candidate initially said he had "a philosophical disagreement" with his boss. Further questioning revealed he had actually insulted his CEO during a board meeting, then physically slapped him when confronted in private—costing himself $3 million in lost options. This vital information would never have emerged without the structured progression of Who Interview questions. After the Who Interview, the A Method incorporates focused interviews that allow team members to probe specific aspects of the scorecard. For instance, when hiring a VP of sales, one interviewer might focus on revenue growth outcomes while another examines team-building competencies. First Solar successfully implemented cultural-fit focused interviews to ensure candidates could thrive in their fast-paced environment. CEO Mike Ahearn explained: "We are a fast-moving, aggressive company. We need people who will never be satisfied with the status quo...If people don't live by these values, they will never fit with our company." The final component of selection involves reference interviews—structured conversations with former bosses, peers, and subordinates. Robert Hurst, retired vice chairman of Goldman Sachs, learned their importance the hard way: "We hired a chief financial officer. We were not allowed to make reference calls because she wanted to keep her candidacy a secret. And she was a disaster." Effective reference interviews go beyond confirmation of employment to verify the candidate's story and uncover blind spots. Jim Gordon of Edgewater Funds warns that references often speak in code, using qualified praise or hesitation to signal concerns without directly criticizing. When all interviews are complete, the hiring manager evaluates the candidate's "skill-will" profile against the scorecard. Skill represents ability to achieve the outcomes, while will encompasses motivation and cultural fit. An A Player demonstrates both the capability and desire to excel in the specific role as defined by the scorecard.

Chapter 4: Sell Strategically: The Five F's to Seal the Deal

After investing significant time and energy finding the perfect candidate, too many managers fumble at the finish line by failing to sell effectively. The key to successfully attracting A Players lies in understanding the five factors that influence their decisions—what we call the five F's: fit, family, freedom, fortune, and fun. Fit refers to aligning the company's vision, needs, and culture with the candidate's goals, strengths, and values. Mark Stone of the Gores Group advises: "Show that you are as concerned with the fit for them as you are in the fit for you. Ninety-nine percent of your competitors are not doing that." Gabriel Echavarría, chairman of Corona S.A. Organization, focuses on this by having candidates tour their facilities and meet employees to experience the culture firsthand. He explains: "Nobody who is worth anything is going to go into a company where they don't see real potential with the company and a strong fit with their goals and abilities." Family considerations often make or break hiring decisions. When John Malone wanted Greg Maffei to join Liberty Media as CEO, the biggest challenge wasn't convincing Maffei—it was persuading his family to relocate from Seattle to Denver. "During nearly every conversation I had with Greg," Malone recalled, "I asked, 'How is your wife feeling about this? How excited are your kids to live in Denver?'" This persistent attention to family concerns ultimately secured Maffei's acceptance. Similarly, one company pursuing a sales executive from the northern U.S. hired a videographer to shoot footage of families water-skiing on a local lake and stuffed cowboy boots with tequila and concert tickets for the candidate's spouse—creative approaches that helped overcome family resistance. Freedom ranks particularly high for A Players, who resist micromanagement. George Buckley of 3M sells freedom by building trust: "If you want to extract as much value as possible out of somebody in an organization, you have to let them be themselves. If you know that I am confident in you, you are likely to take more risks, to work a little harder, because you know that I am not going to take your head off if something doesn't work perfectly." Stacy Schusterman encourages candidates to check references on her management style, while Paul Tudor Jones structures his entire organization around entrepreneurial freedom: "We look at ourselves as a support organization for great entrepreneurs who want to work collectively with other entrepreneurs." While money (fortune) matters, research shows it's rarely the primary motivator for A Players. Carl Lindner, chairman of American Financial Group, demonstrates financial opportunity by "encouraging people to look at our record earnings, growth, and market value." The most effective approach links compensation to scorecard achievement, ensuring rewards align with performance. As Gabriel Echavarría notes: "Our people know every quarter where their bonuses are. Bonuses are tied to mathematical goals with eight other goals that are easily identifiable." Finally, fun—the enjoyment derived from work and relationships—influences decisions. John Zillmer explained his choice to join Allied Waste as CEO: "What really mattered was that I felt I could make a difference and that it could be fun." For Zillmer, fun meant applying his talents to maximum advantage in a company ready for transformation. Effective selling happens throughout the hiring process—from initial sourcing through the candidate's first 100 days on the job. Particularly critical periods include the time between offering and acceptance and between acceptance and start date. During these vulnerable phases, stay in regular contact, address concerns related to the five F's, and celebrate milestones with meaningful gestures. Most importantly, as Robert Hurst advises: "If you find somebody you want, go after them." His persistence in pursuing a CEO candidate over five months resulted in a five-fold increase in the company's stock value within two years.

Chapter 5: Build an A Team: Implement the Method Across Your Organization

The impact of implementing the A Method extends far beyond individual hires. Research with over 400 business leaders revealed that "management talent" contributes more than 50% to business success—significantly outweighing strategy (17%) and external factors (11%). John Varley, CEO of Barclays PLC, explained: "If I look at the Barclays portfolios of businesses compared to our peers', the portfolios are not that different. If you think about competitive strategy, that strategy is not that differentiated bank versus bank. So the differentiation is in execution. And execution is determined by people." Successfully implementing the A Method across an organization requires ten key actions. First, make people a top priority—the most successful leaders spend up to 60% of their time on talent issues. Second, follow the method yourself to lead by example. Third, build support among your executive team by sharing the approach and its benefits. Fourth, cast a clear vision connecting A Players to organizational success. Fifth, train your team on best practices through hands-on workshops. The remaining steps involve removing barriers, implementing supportive policies, recognizing success, addressing resistance, and celebrating wins. Specific policies that drive adoption include requiring scorecards for job requisitions, mandating Who Interviews before offers, and linking bonuses to hiring success rates. As Allied Waste demonstrated under John Zillmer's leadership, systematic implementation can transform company performance—their stock value increased 67% over eighteen months after applying the A Method throughout the organization. The benefits extend beyond corporate performance to personal well-being. One COO initially rated as a "B Player" due to his inability to build a strong team used the A Method to transform his department. Nine months later, he reported: "I feel great! I have a fantastic team working with me now. For the first time in my career, I don't have to be the first person to arrive in the morning and the last one out at night. I'm sleeping better. I'm working out. I'm spending time with my wife. And it's all because I have a team of A Players." Importantly, implementing the A Method doesn't require CEO authority. You can apply these principles within your own sphere of influence—your department, team, or business unit. When you do, others will notice the improved results and follow your example. The method is designed to be legal and fair when properly applied. By focusing on job-relevant criteria defined in advance through scorecards, using standardized processes for all candidates, and avoiding discriminatory language or illegal questions, you can implement the approach while maintaining full compliance with employment laws. Some managers worry that hiring all A Players might create conflict or competition, but this concern misunderstands what makes someone an A Player. By definition, an A Player achieves outcomes while demonstrating competencies that align with your culture. If teamwork is a core value, then even the most individually productive person who undermines collaboration isn't an A Player. A Players work well together because each excels in their unique role while supporting the broader team mission.

Summary

The distinction between who and what decisions represents the fundamental insight of the A Method. As the book demonstrates through countless examples and research, no strategy can overcome the limitations of having the wrong people in key positions. Conversely, when you have A Players throughout your organization, they will solve most problems before they reach your desk. As Bill Koch, oil magnate and America's Cup winner, discovered when building his championship sailing team: "I was following the lesson I had learned from my MIT basketball days. I fired the 'best athlete' and took time to hire a replacement who fit his role better. Morale went up. Not everybody was good at everything. They just had to be exceptional at one thing." The time to implement the A Method is now. Start by creating scorecards that define success for each position. Build systematic sourcing to develop a pipeline of potential A Players. Use structured interviews to select candidates whose skills and motivations align with your needs. Sell effectively by addressing the five F's that matter to top talent. And extend these practices throughout your organization. As the book concludes: "Who, not what. That's the path to your career, financial, and personal success." By shifting your focus from endless what problems to solving the fundamental who challenge, you transform your greatest problem into your greatest opportunity.

About Author

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Geoff Smart

Dr. Geoff Smart is Chairman & Founder of ghSMART, a leadership consulting firm that serves Fortune 500 CEOs and boards, billionaire entrepreneurs, and heads of state. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Who, Leadocracy, and Power Score: Your Formula for Leadership Success.

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