The Bid/Ask Spread for Top Talent

But put all of these clues together and a story emerges: if they really do have a high bar for mere mediocrity, but they also have the operating leverage to make a successful employee have a bigger impact on the world (and a bigger impact on their own net worth) than anywhere else, then their optimal strategy is to be a bit bloated specifically so ... See more

There's some logic to this: the most profitable partner for a given firm might be someone who's 85th-percentile good at what the firm does and 99th-percentile good at strategy, schmoozing, taking risks, not losing one's mind when some of those risks inevitably turn out badly, etc.