Those who command the best talent dominate the market. The war for talent is relentless, and the stakes could not be higher. You cannot afford to simply have a team of A-Players—you must drain the market dry of them. The leaders who win are the ones who aggressively seek out and secure the top 20% of talent that drives 80% of the results. This is the principle of Pareto Optimality, and it is not just a rule—it is the law of success. You do not just want your share of the best talent; you need to own it all. A-Players are the lifeblood of exponential growth, and you must relentlessly pursue them to ensure your organization thrives, while your competitors languish.

A-Players and Pareto Optimality: The 80/20 Rule in Talent Acquisition

The 80/20 rule, or Pareto Optimality, teaches us that a small fraction of inputs generates the majority of outputs. Applied to talent acquisition, it means that roughly 20% of your people will drive 80% of your company’s success. These are your A-Players—those who set the pace, solve the hardest problems, and propel your business to heights that others can only dream of.

But here is the critical realization: it is not enough to settle for just a few A-Players. If 20% of the industry’s top talent drives 80% of the results, then your job as a leader is to acquire as much of that top talent as possible. You must aim to monopolize the talent pool - sucking the market dry of the best people, leaving your competitors scrambling for the scraps.

Those who acquire, love and care for the best talent win—period.

Leaders who understand Pareto Optimality do not just seek to build a team of top performers; they set out to own the entire A-Player ecosystem. Anything less, and you are leaving opportunities for your competitors to gain an edge. Your success hinges not on having the best team within your company—but on assembling the best team in the industry.

Iron Sharpens Iron: The Exponential Power of A-Players

The concept of "iron sharpens iron" becomes even more powerful in the context of the 80/20 rule. A-Players thrive when they are surrounded by others who challenge them, push them, and drive them to higher levels of performance. When you create an environment where the top 20% are in constant collaboration, the results multiply. One A-Player can elevate a team, but a team of A-Players, where excellence is the only acceptable standard, creates exponential growth. One plus one does not just equal two; it equals one hundred or more.

However, this exponential growth only happens if you commit to continuously sharpening your talent pool by bringing in the best of the best. Every time you bring another A-Player into your organization, you are sharpening the entire team. Every time you settle for less than excellence, you dull the blade.

Consider the words of Steve Jobs: “Incredible talent is hard to find, yet it is the single most important factor for success.” Jobs did not merely seek talented people for Apple; he sought the best talent in the world and drained the market of it. He understood that if you control the best minds, the best innovators, the best executors, you control the future. In doing so, he created a team that was not only unmatched but self-perpetuating. A-Players attract A-Players, and the more you have, the more you will continue to draw in.

Job Benchmarking: Defining What the Top 20% Looks Like

Identifying A-Players begins with clarity—clarity on what the role demands and what the ideal candidate looks like. This is where job benchmarking becomes critical. Without it, you are flying blind - you are guessing - you are allowing human bias to become a vehicle for mediocrity. Job benchmarking defines the key accountabilities of a role, focusing on what will make someone successful in the position. It is not about checking off a list of skills; it is about understanding what truly drives success in the role and hiring to those standards.

But to truly drain the market of top talent, job benchmarking is just the first step. The next critical tool in your arsenal is psychometric assessments like TriMetrix® HD. These assessments go well beyond the resume to reveal whether a candidate has the Behavioral Traits, Driving Forces, Competencies, and Acumen that align with the key accountabilities you have identified.

When you deploy a hiring scorecard alongside these assessments, you are not leaving the hiring process to chance. You are building an objective, data-driven hiring approach that ensures every hire strengthens your organization. It is about precision and knowing that every A-Player you bring on board sharpens the entire company.

Pareto Friction: The Consequences of Allowing Mediocrity

Here is where many leaders fail—they compromise. They fill roles quickly, thinking that a "good enough" candidate will suffice. But mediocrity is a toxin. The Pareto principle applies to failure just as much as it applies to success. The bottom 20% of your team will generate 80% of your problems. When you allow B- and C-players to infiltrate your organization, they drain resources, create friction, and slow down your A-Players.

Think about the costs. How much time is wasted managing poor performers? How much opportunity is lost because the top 20% of your team is carrying the burden of those who are simply not up to the task? The consequences of allowing mediocrity to thrive are devastating. It not only hampers your growth, but it also drives your A-Players out. They will not tolerate environments where mediocrity is allowed to fester, and they will leave for companies that surround them with equally high-performing individuals.

Bradford Smart’s Topgrading process echoes this sentiment: at least 90% of your team should be A-Players. Anything less, and you are effectively throwing away your competitive edge. As a leader, you have a choice—drain the market of the best talent or be drained yourself by the mediocrity you allow into your ranks.

The Relentless Pursuit of A-Players: Onboarding, Coaching, and Development

Once you have secured A-Players, your job does not stop. Onboarding is where you solidify the relationship between the new hire and the company, aligning them with your culture and values from day one. A weak onboarding process is the equivalent of hiring a Formula 1 driver and handing them a go-kart. A-Players demand an environment that fuels their growth, and that starts with an onboarding process that sets the tone for high performance.

Coaching and development are where you continuously refine and sharpen your top 20%. A-Players do not coast—they are relentless in their pursuit of excellence. Your responsibility as a leader is to keep challenging them, pushing them to greater heights, and providing opportunities for growth. Fail to do so, and they will seek out an organization that will. In a marketplace where talent is the ultimate competitive advantage, you cannot afford to lose even a single A-Player.

A-Players Thrive on Excellence—And Expect It From Everyone

A-Players are driven by challege, competition, and growth. They seek an environment where their talents are amplified by those around them. When you choose to hire A-Players, you are not just bringing in someone who meets expectations; you are introducing a force multiplier. But here is where many leaders fail—they would not know an A-Player when they saw one and / or they surround their A-Players with B- and C-players, expecting the A-Player to "carry" the weaker links. This is a catastrophic miscalculation. A-Players will not tolerate mediocrity. They demand excellence from their peers because they know that the greater the team, the greater the outcome. It is not enough for them to shine alone—they want to be sharpened by those around them. And A-Players want to be part of a winning team. It is in their blood. 

As Steve Jobs famously said, “The best people are not just better—they are a lot better.” He understood that A-Players expect to work with those who push them beyond their limits, where one person’s success is magnified by the entire team’s brilliance. Think of your team as a flywheel. With A-Players at every point, the momentum builds exponentially. The result? Innovation, breakthrough ideas, and an unstoppable drive forward.

Own the Talent In Your Industry or Be Owned

The choice before you is simple: drain the market dry of A-Players, or allow mediocrity to seep in and destroy your competitive edge. Pareto Optimality is not just a theory—it is a mandate. The top 20% of talent drives 80% of the results, and you must own as much of that talent as possible to win. This is not a game for the soft-hearted or the indecisive. You cannot simply "try" to build a great team. You must act decisively, relentlessly, and intentionally.

Steve Jobs did not settle for mediocrity, and neither should you. Your future hinges on your ability to control the best talent. Own it, cultivate it, and sharpen it continuously. In the end, the companies that dominate the market will be those who understand that talent is the ultimate weapon—and they will stop at nothing to ensure they have the very best.

Decide. Do. Drain the market dry. I can show how...

Chris Young is a Trusted Advisor To Founders / CEOs | Certified Scaling Up Coach | Builder of People, Leaders, Teams & Economic Moats | Strategist and proud founder of The Rainmaker Group.