On talent

How the Greatest Entrepreneurs Hire (h/t David Senra)

• Steve Jobs stated that each new hire became a percentage of the company, so why wouldn’t you take the time to find all A-players?

• David Ogilvy, as an already established businessman, would see advertisements that he liked and then cold call the person who made the ad — this is how he sourced his

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The job description Bezos wrote for his very first employee said, “You must have experience designing and building large and complex (yet maintainable) systems, and you should be able to do so in about one-third the time that most competent people think possible.

What is “talent?” Well, I suppose it’s the ability to do that which is excellent (that which astounds, amazes, and so on). It’s a bit circular, really: if you can write something that astounds, that is, de facto, proof of talent. Is there a way to predict it, to diagnostically spot it early, and issue some sort of reassuring certification, that one... See more

“Average players want to be left alone. Good players want to be coached. And great players want to be told the truth.” – Nick Saben