The best teams don't need the best people.

Edition 21 of Forward+

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1 big idea worth considering.

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There’s a trend in software and tech right now.

“We just need to hire the best sales people.”

The venture capital and private equity markets are a bloodbath, with valuations down dramatically, capital the most expensive it’s been in recent history, and the global economy driving lower retention / higher churn, longer sales cycles, and fewer (and more challenging) deals.

But this post isn’t about tech or software or capital markets.

It’s about people and teams.

And it’s about why the idea of simply hiring the best people is the laziest strategy on the planet.

The Dream Team that became a nightmare.
The collapse of WeWork.
The Soviet Union losing to The Miracle on Ice.
The journey from Theranos to prison.

The list of teams and companies that assembled an all-star talent roster only to fall wildly short of expectations is not a phenomenon. It happens all the time.

Yet the collective conversation continues to circle around the belief that if you recruit the best, the rest will take care of itself.

Here’s a better way.