Sublime

successful firms I know, all of the individual partners act as if they have personal strategic plans for their own careers—they have each thought through what their special value on the marketplace will be, what will make them more than just one more practitioner in their specialty, how they plan to achieve this vision of personal career progress.

Across industries, there were three dominant templates: professional, star, and commitment. The professional blueprint emphasized hiring candidates with specific skills: Founders looked for engineers who could code in JavaScript or C++, or scientists who had deep knowledge about synthesizing proteins. In the star blueprint, the focus shifted from c

Reflecting on more than a quarter century of rigorous research into what makes great companies tick, I’ve come to see “first who” as the one principle above all others that you must not get wrong. First in importance, above every other activity, is the imperative to get the right people on the bus.

Foundations and planning for goals and resources A comprehensive hiring approach Intentional team development Feedback and performance mechanisms