Who

How often have you obsessed over your company’s “what” – the products you design, the strategies you plan, the processes you refine – only to feel like you’re still spinning your wheels? Geoff Smart and Randy Street argue that most business leaders make a fundamental mistake: they focus endlessly on what to do instead of who will do it. In their research-based book Who: The A Method for Hiring, Smart and Street insist that your greatest success depends less on new plans and more on choosing the right people to execute them.

This book builds on the insight introduced by Jim Collins in Good to Great: first get the right people on the bus, then figure out where to drive it. Who provides the practical, step-by-step guide to actually making that happen. It breaks the hiring process into a simple yet rigorously tested framework—the A Method—showing how you can dramatically improve your hiring accuracy and reduce the costly 50% failure rate most managers suffer.

Why “Who” Matters More Than “What”

Smart and Street begin by confronting a painful truth: your biggest problem is not what to do—it’s who to do it. Strategy, after all, is only as good as the people implementing it. A talented team can rescue a bad plan; a weak team will ruin even the best one. Real-world stories reinforce this idea. Take Nate Thompson, CEO of Spectra Logic, who spent his early years mired in stress and financial loss because he hired the wrong people. Only after adopting the A Method did his company thrive—and Thompson finally got to enjoy his ski vacations again.

These misfires come at a shocking cost. A single bad hire, the authors calculate, can cost fifteen times the employee’s salary in wasted time, lost productivity, and damage to morale. For a $100,000 employee, that’s $1.5 million down the drain. The book’s promise is clear: by following the A Method, you can flip your hiring success rate from the industry’s dismal 50% to a consistent 90% or better.

The Four Common Hiring Mistakes

Across more than 13,000 hiring decisions, Smart and Street found that managers fail at four predictable points:

• They lack clarity about what the job requires.
• They don’t attract enough strong candidates.
• They can’t confidently choose between finalists.
• They lose the top candidates before closing the deal.

The A Method—Scorecard, Source, Select, and Sell—addresses each of these failure points with research, discipline, and proven techniques learned from more than four hundred CEOs and investors worldwide.

The Evidence Behind the Method

To ground their approach in data, Smart and Street partnered with Dr. Steven Kaplan at the University of Chicago to analyze over 300 CEOs. One fascinating finding: leaders who combined focus and speed (“Cheetahs”) consistently outperformed those who were merely agreeable and collaborative (“Lambs”). Results trump politeness. The study revealed that execution ability—driving for results and holding people accountable—matters more than charm or consensus-building. This insight underscores the book’s central theme: knowing who to hire requires measuring impact, not impressions.

Why This Matters for You

Hiring is the ultimate leverage point for your success. As Joe Mansueto, founder of Morningstar, notes, “Your success as a manager is simply the result of how good you are at hiring the people around you.” Every organization, from start-ups to global corporations, rises or falls on its people. Implementing the A Method provides a common language and process for your whole team, allowing you to make hiring a competitive advantage rather than a pain point.

Throughout the book, Smart and Street combine storytelling, analytical rigor, and practical checklists. You’ll learn how to create a role’s “scorecard” instead of a vague job description, how to continuously build a pipeline of candidates, how to conduct interviews that expose patterns instead of relying on gut instincts, and how to close top performers using the “five F’s” of motivation—fit, family, freedom, fortune, and fun.

At its heart, Who is not just a hiring manual but a leadership philosophy. It reframes recruiting from a side task into a strategic cornerstone. By thinking deeply about who you place in every key seat, you can transform not only your business performance but your quality of life—more profit, less stress, and more time for the people and activities that matter most.

Hiring often fails before it starts because managers don’t actually know what success looks like. Smart and Street’s first step—the Scorecard—replaces fuzzy job descriptions with a simple, powerful blueprint that defines exactly what an A Player must accomplish and how they operate. Like an architect’s drawing for a house, the scorecard gives you clear specifications before you start building.

1. Defining the Mission

Every role begins with a mission: a one-sentence statement that captures why the job exists. It’s not corporate jargon—it’s clarity. Where many companies write fluff like “maximize shareholder value,” a sharp mission gets to the point. For instance, “Grow revenue from $25M to $50M by year three” tells every candidate and interviewer what the real goal is.

Coca-Cola’s former CEO Neville Isdell shared how this clarity helped him rebuild morale after a tough period. When he needed a new HR leader, he didn’t just seek a generic executive. His mission: find someone who could restore trust and energy across the company. By defining the purpose up front, Isdell hired Cynthia McCague—an A Player who delivered exactly that.

2. Specifying Outcomes

After setting the mission, you list the outcomes—three to eight measurable results showing what “great” looks like. This might be “Increase customer satisfaction scores from 7.1 to 9.0” or “Reduce shipping costs by 15% in twelve months.” Unlike traditional job descriptions that focus on actions (“manage budgets,” “lead meetings”), outcomes force you to focus on impact.

As Smart and Street put it, outcomes liberate new hires: they know what they’ll be judged on and can use their talent freely to deliver results. This clarity alone filters out B and C Players, because weak candidates self-select out once they realize what’s expected.

3. Pinpointing Competencies

Finally, you define the behaviors—called competencies—that someone must demonstrate to achieve those outcomes. Through their research, Smart and Street identify traits common to top performers: efficiency, integrity, follow-through, analytical skill, persistence, and proactivity. But these are just a starting point. Each company should specify cultural traits too—perhaps teamwork, humility, or open communication.

Heinz CEO Bill Johnson shared five qualities he checks in every candidate: chemistry, commitment, coachability, humility, and intellect. If any are missing, he passes—no matter how impressive the resume. As the authors emphasize, an A Player must not only perform but fit—both the role and the culture.

4. Linking Scorecards to Strategy

Scorecards cascade from strategy: the company defines its overall objectives, executives translate them into outcome measures for their teams, and every employee ends up with specific goals that drive execution. Roger Marino, co-founder of EMC, described it best: “We hired people who would go one more step than the next guy in serving the customer.” Their service orientation, embedded in every scorecard, became EMC’s winning strategy.

The result is alignment from top to bottom—a clear connection between strategy, structure, and performance. And because scorecards are living documents, they evolve as strategy evolves.

Bottom line: a well-crafted scorecard eliminates guesswork. It tells you—and every stakeholder—what winning looks like. Without it, you’re navigating blind. With it, you’re building a company where A Players thrive because they know exactly what’s expected and have the freedom to excel.

Once you know what you’re looking for, the next question is obvious: where do you find them? The answer isn’t in HR databases or last-minute job ads; it’s in ongoing, disciplined networking. Smart and Street make it clear that great leaders see themselves as chief recruiting officers—always looking for A Players, even when no position is open.

Referrals: The #1 Source

An astonishing 77% of top executives surveyed said referrals were their best source of top talent. Patrick Ryan, founder of Aon Corporation, built his billion-dollar firm by constantly asking one simple question: “Who are the most talented people you know that I should hire?” He’d log names, make calls weekly, and maintain relationships with promising prospects. Over years, his “always recruiting” habit created a deep well of ready talent—so deep he even found his own successor that way.

Employee Networks

Your existing people already know others like them. Selim Bassoul at Middleby Corporation turbocharged growth by encouraging employees to recruit their peers: “If you meet someone great at a supplier, customer, or competitor, tell us—we want them.” Within five years, 85% of hires came through employee referrals. Because A Players know and attract other A Players, leveraging your internal network ensures cultural fit and shared values.

Friends of the Firm

Beyond employee networks, the authors advise “deputizing” external advisors, clients, and board members as talent scouts. Some companies even offer referral bonuses. BSMB, a private equity firm, allowed trusted executives to invest in their funds fee-free if they sourced strong candidates—an incentive that paid huge dividends. The point is to extend your radar: make finding great people everyone’s job.

Professional Recruiters and Researchers

Recruiters and researchers can help, but only if you treat them like partners, not vendors. Ed Evans, SVP of HR at Allied Waste, said, “You have to give them a peek under the kimono.” Share your culture, scorecards, and team dynamics so they can target the right kind of candidates. Better input equals better results.

Build a System, Not a Spasm

Random recruiting is reactive—and painful. Systematic sourcing is proactive. Smart and Street recommend devoting thirty minutes every week to cultivating talent. Keep track of everyone you meet who impresses you—in a spreadsheet, notebook, or CRM tool—and stay in touch. A consistent “sourcing rhythm” ensures you’re never hiring in panic mode. Instead of a dry “talent pool,” you’ll have a constantly refreshed talent pipeline.

The lesson here is simple: build relationships now so you can hire rapidly and confidently later. As the Jamie Dimon case at Bank One showed, the right CEO wasn’t found in a recruiter’s database; he was identified and courted over months by board members dedicated to sourcing personally. When the need arose, they already knew who. The best leaders never stop looking for their next A Player.

Most interviews are useless. They rely on intuition, charm, or gimmicky questions (“What animal would you be?”). Smart and Street call these “voodoo hiring methods” and replace them with a highly structured system of four interviews designed to uncover truth, not impressions. Their mantra: collect data, not gut feelings.

1. The Screening Interview

A short, 30-minute phone screen eliminates B and C Players upfront. The goal isn’t to charm the candidate—it’s to filter fast. Ask just four 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 would they rate you?

The nuance is key—phrasing like “How would they rate you when we talk to them?” signals that you’ll verify their answers. Adding gentle pressure produces honesty early.

2. The Who Interview

This is the heart of the A Method: a chronological, in-depth career walkthrough that takes one to three hours. For each role, you ask five questions: What were you hired to do? What accomplishments are you most proud of? What were low points? Who did you work with? Why did you leave?

Over time, patterns emerge—of performance, character, and fit. Does the candidate consistently grow, take on challenges, and deliver results? Or do they make excuses, blame bosses, and bounce between roles? That pattern is destiny.

The “threat of reference check” (asking how each boss will describe them) turns speculation into fact. It’s how the authors unearthed one candidate’s revelation: he once slapped his CEO during a disagreement—hardly something that would surface in a typical chat.

3. The Focused Interview

Once finalists emerge, have colleagues run focused interviews on specific scorecard items. Each interviewer tests two or three outcomes or competencies (“Tell me about a time you hired an A Player”). This avoids overlap and ensures complete coverage. At First Solar, for example, focused interviews added a dedicated cultural-fit conversation to ensure that fast-paced, mission-driven hires would thrive.

4. The Reference Interview

Skipping references is one of leadership’s great self-inflicted wounds. The solution: make seven calls—to three bosses, two peers, and two subordinates. Ask the same five structured questions every time. Listen for enthusiasm, hesitation, or “coded” references. As one manager put it, “Faint praise is damning praise.”

Bank One board member Jim Crown used this strategy to vet Jamie Dimon. Speaking directly with those who had worked alongside him, he discovered that Dimon’s “hard to work with” reputation masked integrity and an intolerance for politics—the exact traits Bank One needed to recover. Thorough references turned a risky hire into a home run.

Together, the four interviews transform hiring from guesswork into science. As Smart and Street summarize, your goal is to find candidates who hit the “skill-will bull’s-eye”: they both can do the job and want to do it in your culture. Anything less—and you’re hiring trouble.

Even after all that work, most companies lose their best candidates at the finish line. The last step of the A Method—Sell—ensures that doesn’t happen. Great leaders don’t assume good people will automatically say yes; they deliberately sell the role using five motivators known as the Five F’s: Fit, Family, Freedom, Fortune, and Fun.

Fit: Showing How They Belong

A Players crave meaningful alignment between their strengths and your mission. You sell by showing them where their talent fits into your vision. Alec Gores tells recruits: “We’re all in the same boat, making money together.” This sense of shared purpose converts interest into commitment. Your message: “Here’s where we’re going, and here’s how you matter.”

Family: Supporting Life Beyond Work

Career moves affect families, not just employees. The authors share stories of how CEOs like John Malone (Liberty Media) and recruiter Tex Chance (in Austin, Texas) won over reluctant spouses using thoughtful gestures—from care packages to relocation tours. The lesson: an A Player’s decision often depends on their partner’s comfort. Ignore family dynamics, and you risk losing your candidate at the eleventh hour.

Freedom: Granting Trust and Autonomy

Micromanagement repels A Players. They want freedom to perform. 3M’s CEO George Buckley said, “If you want to extract value, you have to let people be themselves.” Promising (and delivering) autonomy builds loyalty. Stacy Schusterman reinforces this by encouraging candidates to check her references so they can see her leadership style firsthand.

Fortune: Linking Pay to Performance

While money alone doesn’t motivate, fair and performance-linked compensation cements commitment. Ed Liddy at Allstate warned, “There’s no such thing as a bargain in the labor market—you can’t underpay and expect loyalty.” The key is transparency: show candidates how success will translate into financial upside based on measurable goals from the scorecard.

Fun: Culture and Enjoyment Matter

Finally, fun is about belonging to a community where work feels rewarding. ghSMART itself models this with annual retreats that include employees’ families, reinforcing connection and joy. Allied Waste CEO John Zillmer joined precisely because he found the turnaround challenge exciting and enjoyable. When people feel that they’ll thrive and grow, they commit wholeheartedly.

The Five F’s must be woven through every phase—from initial contact to onboarding. Smart and Street describe five “waves” of selling: during sourcing, interviews, between offer and acceptance, between acceptance and start date, and during the first 100 days. Neglect any wave, and even the best candidate can slip away. Persistence, they argue, is the secret weapon: keep caring, keep showing up, keep proving that you’re the right fit for them too.

When you master the art of selling—not as manipulation but as mutual investment—you transform hiring into partnership. The result isn’t just a signed offer letter; it’s a long-term A Player who’s energized, loyal, and eager to make an impact.

Once you’ve hired A Players, the real magic happens: assembling them into a high-performing team. Many managers fear having a team filled with stars will breed conflict or egos. Smart and Street insist the opposite is true—if you define what “A Player” means in your culture. With the right scorecards and expectations, A Players complement one another rather than compete destructively.

Redefining “A Player”

An A Player isn’t a generic high performer. They’re the right person in the right job at the right time. Their brilliance is contextual—someone may be world-class in one company and misfit in another. By anchoring talent to your mission and values, you ensure alignment. As Tesco’s CEO Sir Terry Leahy noted, bringing in strong outsiders succeeded only because leadership embraced their differences as sources of renewal rather than threats.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

Every A Player added to the team elevates the standard and energy of everyone else. One CEO told ghSMART, “Each A Player we hire raises our entire company’s aspirations.” But you must build a culture strong—and mature—enough to integrate new talent without jealousy. As Leahy said, “You have to have quite a mature senior management that’s comfortable around big personalities.”

Maintaining the Standard

Smart and Street outline ten rules for embedding the A Method company-wide: make people a top priority, lead by example, build executive support, communicate a clear vision (“We win with A Players”), train managers, remove barriers, align policies, reward success, replace resistant managers, and celebrate victories. Leaders at Barclays, Heinz, and Blackstone have followed this playbook, transforming hiring into a disciplined system tied directly to their business results.

As CEOs rate talent strategy on par with financial discipline, they begin to see hiring not as a nuisance but as the single most scalable advantage a company can own. When A Players hire A Players, success becomes self-reinforcing. That’s when your culture becomes unstoppable.

Smart and Street close with a powerful insight: the A Method isn’t just for hiring—it’s for everything. The same disciplined approach to defining outcomes, assessing talent, and matching roles can transform promotions, development, and succession planning.

From Hiring to Development

General Wesley Clark reminded the authors, “What got you promoted to one rank won’t necessarily get you promoted to the next.” Each new level requires a new scorecard. Using the A Method for internal development means assessing people against future challenges, not just current performance. At one trillion-dollar bank, ghSMART helped leaders redefine executive roles, interview incumbents using the Who process, and recalibrate promotions—resulting in the smoothest CEO succession in 50 years.

Leadership as Team Design

The most successful leaders, from Bill Koch to John Zillmer, act as team architects. Koch applied these same principles in his 1992 America’s Cup sailing victory. By assessing sailors’ strengths (“talent, teamwork, and attitude”) and rating them against his version of a scorecard, he built a crew that, despite long odds, beat the world’s best. The same system that built championship teams on the water can build them in business.

Ultimately, the A Method trains you to see your organization through a “who lens.” Once you adopt it, every strategic and personal decision aligns around one guiding question: Do I have the right people in the right places? When you can honestly answer yes, success stops being an uphill struggle and starts becoming a certainty.