Why B-Player Leaders Quietly Kill Growth (and How to Spot Them Fast)

The Problem You’re Feeling (But Probably Haven’t Named Yet)

If you’ve ever left a leadership meeting feeling more drained than energized, you might know the sensation. You walk into the meeting hoping for clarity. You walk out with a longer to-do list, a little more frustration, and the quiet suspicion that your team isn’t firing on all cylinders.

What’s tricky is that this problem rarely announces itself. It doesn’t always show up as a dramatic implosion. It often shows up as a billion slow leaks: momentum slows to a crawl, meetings seem just to replay the same conversations, decisions that get revisited three times, projects that never quite land like they should...

At first, you chalk it up to growth. “We’re busier now. We’re more complex. This is just how it is at our stage.” But underneath, something else is happening that you need to understand.

Why the Friction Feels So Heavy

What you’re actually possibly feeling is the weight of B-player leadership.

B-players in key roles create an invisible drag on the business. They don’t usually commit obvious sabotage. In fact, they often look “fine” on the surface: they’re busy, they’re in meetings, they’ve got slides and talking points. But deep down, they’re not creating lift. They’re creating drag.

And unfortunately, the higher up the org chart a B-player sits, the heavier the drag becomes. A frontline B-player creates headaches. A mid-manager B-player stalls execution. A senior B-player? They quietly poison culture, slow decision-making, and train the entire org to value politics over performance.

The Hidden Costs of Carrying B-Players

Every month you carry a B-player leader, you pay a hidden tax:

• Your A-players lose faith. They know the difference between excellence and mediocrity. If they see you tolerate a B-player, they’ll assume excellence isn’t really required.
  
• Your time disappears. You get pulled into drama, endless syncs, and “coaching moments” that don’t stick. Instead of leading the business, you’re babysitting performance gaps.
  
• Your strategy wobbles. B-players are masters at optics. They’ll sell you a good story, but the execution underneath lags. And by the time you notice, you’ve lost quarters — not weeks.
  
• Your culture erodes. Politics take root. People start protecting turf instead of pursuing outcomes. Before long, meetings become performances instead of problem-solving.

The scariest part? You don’t notice how expensive it is until it’s gone. The day you replace a B-player with an A-player, it’s like someone let the air back into the room. Suddenly things move faster. Conversations sharpen. Issues get solved instead of recycled. You wonder why you waited so long.

Why Leaders Miss It (and Wait Too Long)

If this problem is so obvious once you see it, why do so many smart leaders miss it for so long?

It’s usually not because they’re bad leaders; in fact, it’s usually the opposite. Most A-player leaders care deeply about people. They want to believe the best. They don’t want to give up on someone too quickly.

But those very instincts can blind you to what’s really happening. Let’s look at the four most common traps.

1. Confirmation bias. Every leader's been there. You fought hard to fill a critical role. You sat through hours of interviews. You convinced yourself you’d found the right fit.
   
   So when performance starts to wobble, your first instinct isn’t to cut bait. It’s to double down. “Maybe I didn’t onboard them well. Maybe they just need more time. Maybe if I give them extra coaching…”  That’s confirmation bias at work. It’s our brain’s way of protecting our ego — because firing someone we personally hired feels like admitting we got it wrong.
   
   But here’s the reality: missing on a hire isn’t the failure. The real failure is keeping the wrong person in the wrong seat long after you know they’re not working out. Research from Leadership IQ shows that nearly half of new hires fail within 18 months. That doesn’t mean half of leaders are incompetent. It means that hiring is hard — and misfires are normal. The best leaders aren’t the ones who bat 1.000. They’re the ones who course-correct quickly when the data is clear.
2. Surface optics ("They seem busy to me!"). B-players are masters at looking productive. Their calendars are full. Their inboxes are overflowing. They’re always “in meetings.” .
   
   To an untrained eye — or without the right scoreboard — that can look like value. But motion isn’t the same as progress.  Ask yourself: Are the outcomes moving forward, or just the activity?
   
   True A-players are measured by results. They hit goals, ship projects, and deliver impact. B-players thrive in the gray zone where there’s enough noise to look active but not enough clarity to expose whether they’re actually winning. This is why clear scoreboards matter. Without them, you’re judging performance by optics — and B-players will always win that game.
3. Fear of fallout ("Gotta keep things stable!"). This one shows up especially at the senior level. You’ve got a VP, director, or department head who isn’t cutting it, but the thought of removing them makes you nervous. “They’ve built relationships. They’re holding things together. If I pull them out, won’t the team destabilize?”
   
   It feels safer to wait. To “give it another quarter.” To see if maybe things smooth out.
   
   But here’s the irony: leaving a B-player in place usually destabilizes the team far worse than removing them.
   
   Because while you’re worrying about the fallout, your A-players are quietly losing faith. They’re frustrated, confused, or outright exhausted from carrying the slack, and wondering why there's inconsistent accountability. And when A-players leave — that’s when the real damage happens.
   
   Time and again, I’ve seen teams get stronger, not weaker, after a B-player exits. It’s like removing a clog from a pipe. Suddenly, energy flows again.
4. Optimism ("Let's just give them the benefit of the doubt..."). Leaders are optimists by nature. It’s part of what makes them leaders. They see potential in people. They want to believe growth is possible.
   
   And sometimes, it is. But here’s the gut-punch: B-players don’t typically rise under feedback.
   
   You can give them clearer goals, more coaching, and direct conversations. Instead of leaning in, they often dig in. They find new ways to justify, deflect, or spin.
   
   That’s because, 9 times out of 10, the issue usually isn’t skill. It’s mindset. And you can’t coach someone into wanting to win, grow, and be held accountable. Those have to be intrinsic.
   
   Optimism is a gift in leadership. But unchecked optimism turns into denial — and denial costs you dearly.

Why This Matters to You Right Now

If you’re reading this and recognizing any of these symptoms, you’re not alone. Every business that scales will make B- or C-player hires- so don't beat yourself up too hard. Depending on which study you read,  somewhere around 20–50% of executive hires fail within 18 months. So it's not necessarily a reflection of you being careless. It’s the reality of building teams under growth pressure.

The real mistake isn’t hiring a B-player. The mistake is keeping them too long.

Because while you hesitate to act, your B-Players are:

• Burning out your A-players.
  
• Spinning up politics.
  
• Training your culture to tolerate mediocrity.

The longer you wait, the more expensive it becomes to deal with.

What Makes an A-Player, Really?

If you want an A-player team, you need to do more than just say, “We only hire A-players.”  That’s a nice slogan, but without an actual, working definition, you’re flying blind and just throwing spaghetti at the wall.

One of the main challenges is that many leaders use “A-player” as a fuzzy label. It’s basically shorthand for 'someone really good.' But when you peel it back, every leader has a different picture in their head. For some, it’s Ivy League credentials. For others, it’s hitting quota. For others, it’s simply “not screwing up.”

That vagueness is exactly why B-players slip through- because vagueness is the enemy of clarity. When you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, you’ll settle for what looks shiny in the moment — and completely miss the signals that matter.  And frankly, you can’t spot the wrong things if you don’t have a clear picture of the right things.

So let’s define that better.

The Three Core Traits That Separate A-Players From Everyone Else

Over the years — both running my own companies and working alongside leadership teams — I’ve seen patterns repeat. A-players show up differently than B-players in three very specific ways:

1. Their focus on winning.
   
2. Their hunger for growth.
   
3. Their relationship with accountability.

Let’s unpack each one.

1. A-Players Are Obsessed With Winning

An A-player wants the organization to win as badly as they want their own career to win. They think in terms of outcomes, not optics.

That means:

• They push for clear goals because goals give them a target.
  
• They measure progress honestly, even if it reveals gaps.
  
• They don’t get distracted by shiny objects, trends, or politics.

If you’ve ever had someone on your team who kept asking, “Okay, but what does success look like?” — you’ve probably worked with an A-player.  They want goals because goals give them a target to chase.

This doesn’t mean they’re reckless or ego-driven. It means that A-Players measure themselves by outcomes, not appearances. They’d rather hit the number quietly than look busy loudly.

A-player mindset: “Show me what matters most, and I’ll figure out how to deliver.”

B-players, on the other hand, avoid precise goals. Why? Because clear goals remove wiggle room. If success is defined, failure becomes obvious. B-players prefer to keep things fuzzy so they can redefine “winning” after the fact.

2. A-Players Are Hungry for Growth

A-players have a second gear that most leaders underestimate. For most A-Players, they’re not satisfied just hitting the target. They want to know: “What’s next? How do I stretch? How do I get better?”

That hunger shows up in practical ways:

• They seek feedback instead of avoiding it.
  
• They study their craft. Read books. Ask questions. Find mentors.
  
• They willingly step into challenges that scare them a little.

This is where they separate from “high performers.” A high performer can execute well in their lane. But an A-player gets stronger with time. They’re climbing. They’re expanding capacity. This is why hiring for trajectory beats hiring for pedigree.

A-players are on an upward slope. They’ll grow into roles, outgrow roles, and then redefine them.

B-players? The opposite. They avoid stretch. Growth threatens B-players because it exposes weakness. Instead, they’d rather stay comfortable and protect their status than take risks that sharpen them. So, they invest in alliances and optics. They want to look secure, not become stronger.

3. A-Players Embrace Accountability

Here’s the real deal-breaker.

A-players want accountability. They want the scoreboard, the metrics, the review cadence — because it tells them if they’re on track to win. They don’t take it as criticism. They take it as fuel.

That means:

• They track metrics and share them openly.
  
• They analyze their own misses before anyone else does.
  
• They’d rather face the truth than maintain a façade.

Contrast that with B-players: treat accountability as poison. They resist it. They undermine it. They explain it away. They’ll tell you goals are “too rigid” or that the process is “too corporate.” They’ll stir up drama to distract from being measured.

If you want a simple litmus test: put clear metrics on the table. A-players will lean in. B-players will flinch.

The Optics vs. Outcomes Test

Here’s really the simplest way to draw the line:

• A-players focus on outcomes over optics.
• B-players focus on optics over outcomes.

That’s it.

Does this person care more about hitting goals or looking good in the process? Do they obsess over impact or appearances?

If you build your leadership filter around that distinction, you’ll catch problems earlier. Because no matter how polished someone looks, if their behavior consistently favors optics, you’re not looking at an A-player.

Why This Matters for Scaling

You might be thinking: “Okay, but isn’t this just semantics?”

It’s not. This distinction is the difference between scaling with momentum and getting stuck.

Because the higher you climb — $5M, $10M, $50M in revenue — the less forgiving the business becomes. Complexity compounds issues, and problems multiply.

If you don’t have a crisp definition of what “A-player” means, you’ll keep slipping B-players into critical roles. And every time that happens, growth will slow or stall, culture erodes, and A-players lose faith.

It’s not just a hiring problem. It’s a systems problem. Without clarity, you don’t just risk one bad hire. You risk building an organization that tolerates mediocrity.

So let’s be clear:

• A-players win.
  
• A-players grow.
  
• A-players embrace accountability.

Anything else — no matter how shiny it looks on the surface — belongs in the B-player camp.

When you define the line this clearly, everything changes. Interviews sharpen. Scorecards clarify. Leaders align.

And most importantly, your A-players finally feel like they’re playing on the kind of team they always wanted.

Why These Three Traits Matter More Than Credentials

It’s easy to fall for résumés. A big brand name. A fancy title. A decade at a competitor. But if the person doesn’t embody these three traits — winning, growth, accountability — they’re not an A-player.

Think about it:

• What good is pedigree if the person dodges accountability?
  
• What good is tenure if the person avoids growth?
  
• What good is charisma if the person defines “winning” as looking good in meetings instead of hitting outcomes?

The reality is, pedigree often hides B-players better than anything else. It gives them cover ("well, at my last job [that validates what I'm about to say].....". Which is why leaders who rely too heavily on résumés end up with teams that look impressive on LinkedIn but can’t execute in real life.

The Practical Difference on Your Team

And before you start thinking it, the gap between A-players and B-players isn’t theoretical. It shows up every day in execution.

• With A-players, meetings shrink. You spend less time explaining, more time deciding.
  
• With A-players, initiatives are knocked out of the park. They take ownership and push it across the finish line.
  
• With A-players, culture lifts. They set a vibe and pace others want to match.

With B-players? The opposite. Meetings ramble. Projects get stuck. Culture becomes toxic.

And because B-players often talk a good game, the gap between optics and outcomes can go unnoticed — until results slip and you’re left wondering what went wrong.

Why This Definition Matters for You

If you’re serious about building a business that scales, you can’t afford fuzziness. You need a working definition of A-players that your whole leadership team shares. Otherwise, everyone will make hiring and promotion decisions based on 'gut feel', and 'gut feel' is how B-players sneak in.

When you and your team can say out loud — “An A-player is obsessed with winning, hungry for growth, and embraces accountability” — you’ve got a shared language. Suddenly, spotting a B-player becomes easier. Conversations get clearer. Decisions get faster.

And here’s the payoff: when you get enough A-players in the same room, something magical happens. They don’t just work. They lift each other. They sharpen each other. And they create a culture where B-players simply don’t stick around. In fact, they usually create a culture where they actively push B-players out.

And when you have that sort of dynamic, there is no limit to what your team can accomplish.

Recruiting and Retaining A-Players

You’ve got your definition. You know what separates A-players from the rest (focus on winning, hunger for growth, and a healthy relationship with accountability). Now comes the hard part where the rubber hits the road — actually building a team around them.

Here’s the thing most leaders don’t like admitting: the #1 job of any CEO or senior leader isn’t managing people or even setting strategy. It’s painting such a compelling vision of the future of the business where you can recruit and retain top talent. Everything else flows from there.

Steve Jobs said it best: “The most important job of someone like myself is recruiting.” He wasn’t exaggerating. The vision you set only matters if you’ve got the people to run with it. Without the right people in the right seats, even the best strategy dies on the whiteboard.

Why Recruiting A-Players Is Different

Recruiting A-players is not the same as filling roles. Anyone can “fill a seat.”  Usually, the mistake many companies make is optimizing for speed, optics, or pedigree.

• Speed alone leads to bad fits. You end up lowering your standards just to get a body in the chair as quick as you can.
  
• Optics trick you into hiring for résumés, not reality. Fancy logos on someone’s LinkedIn don’t guarantee execution.
  
• Pedigree makes you feel safe — but often brings in professionals who know how to manage but not how to do.

Here's another pro-tip: A-players don’t get too excited about repeating the same role they’ve already mastered. They want a challenge that stretches them. So, this means the very best hires often aren’t the ones who check every box on your job description. They’re the ones on a steep growth trajectory — people who will grow into the role and then make it bigger than you imagined.

How to Spot A-Player Potential

If you want to hire A-players, you need to ask better questions and look for the right signals:

Look for Evidence of Growth

Ask candidates how they’ve improved in the last 12 months. Not what they’ve achieved — how they’ve grown. Did they learn a new skill? Take on a new responsibility? Stretch into uncomfortable territory?

A-players can point to growth moments.

B-players talk in circles.

Test for Accountability

Pose scenario questions that force them to own outcomes. For example: “Tell me about a time you missed a goal. What did you do about it?” A-players will admit the miss and walk you through what they learned. B-players will blame circumstances, the team, or “unrealistic goals.”

Watch Their Curiosity

Do they ask you smart, forward-looking questions? A-players want to understand the mission, the scoreboard, and the opportunity to grow. If a candidate is only asking about perks, benefits, title, or status — red flag.

Why Retention Is the Other Half of the Game

Recruiting A-players is only half the battle. If you can’t keep them, you’ll end up on a treadmill, constantly backfilling roles and losing momentum.

Here’s the thing about A-players: they won’t stay where they can’t grow. If you don’t create an environment where they can stretch, be challenged, and win, they’ll find one that does.

That means retention isn’t about free snacks or ping-pong tables. It’s about building a culture where:

• Wins are celebrated and measured.
  
• Growth opportunities are real, not lip service.
  
• Accountability is baked into the rhythm of the business.

When you create that environment, A-players don’t just stay — they thrive. They attract other A-players because they want to work with people who sharpen them. The culture becomes self-reinforcing and unstoppable.

Speed Wins (Without Cutting Corners)

One of the best lessons I learned early on is that speed matters in recruiting. If you drag out the process, you’ll lose A-players to faster-moving companies. But speed doesn’t mean lowering the bar. It means removing bottlenecks.

For example: if you meet a candidate you’re excited about, don’t let weeks pass between interviews. Compress the timeline. Have them meet multiple team members in a single day. Use structured skill/aptitude/personality/culture tests so you can evaluate quickly. And if they’re the right fit, move fast with an offer.

I once heard a story of a hire where the CEO flew the candidate out the very next day, ran a full interview loop, made an on-the-spot offer, and had them at a team party that night. That kind of decisiveness communicates strength and seriousness — qualities A-players respect.

And just to be clear, this doesn't mean "skip the hiring process". I mean "compress the hiring process".

Selling Your Opportunity the Right Way

Here’s where a lot of hiring managers forget: you’re not just evaluating the candidate. They’re also evaluating you.

A-players want to know: “Why should I choose your company over the dozen other opportunities I have?”

You don’t need a slick sales pitch. You need a real one. Show them the size of the mission. Show them the quality of the team. Show them the clarity of your vision and the discipline of your systems. Show them the impact they can make.

A-players aren’t swayed by gimmicks. They’re drawn to places where they can win and grow. If you can articulate how your company offers both, you won’t need to “sell.” You’ll simply invite them into a story they want to be part of.

Why This Matters for Scaling

Recruiting and retaining A-players isn’t just an HR issue. It’s a scaling issue.

• Every A-player you add multiplies the execution capacity of the team.
  
• Every B-player you tolerate drains that capacity and pollutes the culture.

It’s not an even trade. A small team of true A-players will always outperform a larger team full of B-players (think Seal Team Six). And if you want to break through growth ceilings, you’ll need the kind of self-managing, high-accountability culture only A-players create.

How to Spot a B-Player Before It’s Too Late

No matter how rock-solid your processes and thorough your assessments, even the best leaders make hiring mistakes. You do your homework, you run the interviews, you check the references — and sometimes, someone still slips through who isn’t who they appeared to be.

The impact is amplified when that person is a B-player in a leadership role. Not only are they underperforming themselves, but they’re actively shaping the environment around them. Their behavior spreads sideways and down. And when they feel exposed, they almost always react — often dramatically.

I call this "the allergic reaction". It’s what happens when a B-player senses accountability closing in, and they tend to create a smokescreen for cover.

Why Accountability Triggers B-Players

If A-players love clarity and scoreboards, B-players run from them. Goals, metrics, and accountability are kryptonite because they expose what’s missing.

So when you introduce:

• clear quarterly targets,
  
• a weekly scorecard review, and/or
  
• a transparent performance dashboard…

…the B-player doesn’t see opportunity. They see threat. And instead of leaning in, they’ll flinch — or worse, fight.

That fight usually takes the form of distraction tactics.

The Common Distraction Tactics of B-Players

When accountability starts to appear for a B-Player, keep an eye out for these reactions:

1. The Drama Storm

B-Players tend to churn up chaos — gossip, politics, sudden “urgent issues.” Instead of focusing on goals, the team is pulled into putting out emotional fires.

2. The Blame Game

They point fingers in every direction but their own. Missed sales targets? It’s because marketing didn’t deliver leads. High turnover? HR isn’t supporting them. A late project? Operations dropped the ball.

Oh, but if there was an outcome that was positive? Magically, they're the reason why.

This is classic optics-over-outcomes thinking. As long as the spotlight shifts away from them, they consider it a win.

3. The Hostage Play

This one is particularly damaging. A B-player will suggest that their entire team is at risk of leaving unless their grievances are addressed.

The implication: “If you push me, you’ll lose them.”

But here’s the thing — it’s rarely the team that’s the issue. It’s the leader creating a toxic environment.

4. The Thousand Fingers

Instead of blaming one person, they spread the blame everywhere: market conditions, budget, seasonality, competitors, “unrealistic expectations.” Anything that keeps the conversation fuzzy.

This tactic buys them time, but it also erodes momentum.

Why This Reaction Is So Dangerous

The allergic reaction matters because it doesn’t just slow execution — it can poison the culture.

• Good people leave. A-players don’t stick around when their leader is focused on drama instead of chasing outcomes.
  
• Clarity disappears. Scoreboards and priorities blur under a fog of excuses.
  
• You lose time. Instead of focusing on growth, the executive team gets dragged into refereeing nonsense.

And the longer a B-player leader stays in place, the more entrenched the problem becomes. Their alliances strengthen. Their narrative spreads. And suddenly, removing them feels ten times harder than it needs to be.

How to Respond as a Leader

The key when you see an allergic reaction is simple: don’t get pulled into the drama.

Stay calm. Stay rational. Keep coming back to the scoreboard.

If a B-player tries to derail a conversation with drama, bring it back to goals:

“I hear you. Let’s come back to why we’re missing our marketing targets. What specifically needs to change to hit the numbers?”

If they try to run a hostage play, separate the emotion from the reality:

“If people are feeling unsettled, we’ll support them. But let’s start with why we’re not delivering outcomes. That’s the root issue.”

This doesn’t mean ignoring legitimate concerns from the team. It means refusing to let noise overshadow the work.

Why Swift Action Matters

Here’s the mistake most leaders make: they wait too long. Far, far too long.

They hope the B-player will self-correct. They rationalize: “maybe with more coaching, things will turn around.” They avoid the hard conversation because firing feels like admitting failure.

But the longer you wait, the worse the fallout.

• The B-player’s behavior becomes perceived as "normal".
  
• A-players disengage or leave.
  
• The organization drifts further from clarity and execution.

Research suggests that 20–50% of executive hires fail within 18 months. That’s not always because they’re bad people — sometimes it’s just a bad fit. But either way, the damage of keeping the wrong leader too long is almost always greater than the discomfort of making a change.

This is why we're huge fans of tools to help to predict the outcomes of a new hire's success. They're not 100% fool-proof, but time and time again, those tools prove that they can save a ton of wasted expense and headache.

Your Objective? Stay Focused on Outcomes

When you’re dealing with a B-player, it’s tempting to get pulled into the swirl. They’re masters at creating drama, shifting blame, and manufacturing noise. You can feel yourself wanting to argue back, explain harder, or defend your decisions.

But here’s the thing: the moment you start sparring with a B-player on their terms, you’ve already lost. They win when the conversation moves away from outcomes and into optics.

The antidote? Relentless focus on outcomes.

It’s not about being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about being the calmest, clearest, and most consistent. You win by staying anchored in the goals, keeping the conversation rational, and acting decisively.

Let’s break this down.

1. Staying anchored in clear goals.
   B-players thrive in vagueness. The fuzzier the goals, the more room they have to shift the narrative. One week it’s “We’re almost there.” The next week it’s “The target was unrealistic anyway.”
   
   That’s why your number-one weapon is clarity.
   
   -Define goals in concrete, measurable terms.
   -Set time-bound milestones so progress can’t be moved around.
   -Put it all on a visible scoreboard so the entire team can see it.
   
   Think about a sports team. Imagine if the scoreboard went blank halfway through the game. Chaos would break out — everyone arguing about what the score really is. That’s what happens inside your business when you don’t anchor in goals.
   
   When the scoreboard is clear, conversations shift. It’s not about personalities or perceptions. It’s about results. And results don’t lie.
   
   Leadership lesson: If the goals aren’t written down, specific, and visible, they don’t exist.
   
   
2. Keeping the conversation rational.
   Here’s where most leaders stumble. The B-player stirs up drama — maybe they question your leadership, maybe they blame another department, maybe they whip up “concerns” about morale — and suddenly you’re sucked into debating the chaos.
   
   That’s the trap.
   
   Your job is to stay calm and rational. Every time they veer off, you bring it back to outcomes.
   
   -“I hear that. Let’s connect it back to why we’re behind on revenue.”
   -“I understand your concern. But let’s first look at the data.”
   -“That’s worth addressing, but right now, we need to talk about our customer churn.”
   
   It doesn’t mean ignoring legitimate issues. It means refusing to let noise take priority over performance.
   
   Think of it like flying a plane through turbulence. The passengers may panic. The drinks may spill. But the pilot can’t get distracted by the chaos in the cabin. The only way through is to stay locked on the instruments.
   
   Leadership lesson: Drama is a smoke screen. Outcomes are the compass.
   
   
3. Acting decisively.
   The hardest part isn’t seeing the problem. It’s doing something about it.
   
   Too many leaders hesitate. They hope another quarter of coaching will turn things around. They convince themselves it’s just a rough patch. They wait for more “proof.”
   
   But here’s the reality: once you’ve seen the pattern, it rarely reverses.
   
   B-players don’t magically transform under pressure. More often, they double down — creating even more drama to protect themselves. And the longer you wait, the more entrenched they become, building alliances and narratives that make it harder to remove them cleanly.
   
   That’s why decisive action is critical. When the data is clear and the patterns are consistent, you have to move. Address it directly, set a short runway for change, and if the needle doesn’t move — make the transition.
   
   It feels risky in the moment, but the bigger risk is waiting. Because waiting compounds the pain:
   
   -Your A-players lose trust in you as a leader.
   -The team normalizes mediocrity.
   -Growth slows down while the drama speeds up.
   
   Acting decisively isn’t about being harsh. It’s about being clear, fair, and protective of the culture.
   
   Leadership lesson: clarity without action is just lip service.

The Bottom Line

B-players want to drag you into politics. They want to blur the scoreboard, spark drama, and make the conversation about everything except outcomes.

Your objective is simple: don’t take the bait.

• Anchor in clear goals so there’s no room for confusion.
• Keep the conversation rational, no matter how much chaos they churn.
• Act decisively once the pattern is clear — because waiting only multiplies the damage.

When you lead this way, two things happen: B-players expose themselves quickly, and A-players breathe easier. They see you protecting the culture of outcomes, and it energizes them to keep raising their game.

Because at the end of the day, the scoreboard doesn’t lie. And the leaders who stay focused on outcomes are the ones who win — not just the game in front of them, but the long season of building a business that lasts.

How to Transition B-Players Out of the Team

If the hardest part of building a team is recruiting true A-players, the second hardest part is letting go of the people who aren’t. And yet, this is where most leaders stall.

Why? Because firing someone you hired feels personal. It feels like admitting you made a mistake. Or it feels risky: “What will happen to morale if we let them go? Will the team collapse?”

The truth is the team is already collapsing if you keep a B-player in place too long. Removing them doesn’t break momentum — it creates a path to restore it.

The Cost of Waiting Too Long

Every month you delay acting on a B-player is a month you:

• Drain the energy of your A-players, who are stuck working under or alongside mediocrity.
  
• Lose clarity as the scoreboard gets blurred by excuses and drama.
  
• Risk spreading toxicity deeper into the organization, as the B-player recruits allies.
• Accept mediocrity over excellence.

Research from Harvard Business Review shows that nearly half of executives wait too long to fire direct reports they know aren’t working out.  The pattern is consistent: we justify, we rationalize, we hope for change. But the costs mount silently until they explode into turnover, lost productivity, or outright culture rot.

Step 1: Confirm the Pattern

Not every stumble means someone’s a B-player. The key is distinguishing between a skill gap you can coach and a values gap you can’t fix.

Ask yourself:

• Are they consistently missing outcomes while focusing on optics?
  
• Do they resist clear goals and accountability, no matter how they’re framed?
  
• Have they created drama or politics to shield their performance?
  
• Do high performers on their team seem disengaged, frustrated, or flight-risk?

If the answer is “yes” more often than “no,” you’re looking at a pattern, not a blip.

Step 2: Have the Direct Conversation

B-players thrive in vagueness. They’re experts at spinning stories, reframing issues, and making the problem seem unclear.

That’s why your conversation needs to be clear, calm, and specific:

“Here are the goals we set. Here’s where we are. Here’s the pattern I’m seeing. And here’s what needs to change by [specific time frame].”

This isn’t about being cruel. It’s about eliminating ambiguity. If they’re capable of turning it around, clarity gives them the best chance. If they’re not, clarity removes excuses when it’s time to part ways.

Step 3: Manage the Transition, Not the Drama

When a B-player senses their time is short, they’ll often double down on the allergic reactions we talked about earlier: drama storms, hostage plays, blame games.

Your job is to resist getting pulled into it. Stay steady. Keep bringing the conversation back to outcomes.

At the same time, prepare for the political side. B-players often build alliances to insulate themselves. That means when you decide to transition them out, you need to:

• Communicate with stakeholders early. Make sure your board or leadership peers understand the rationale.
  
• Have your replacement plan ready. Whether it’s an interim leader or a permanent hire, don’t leave the team drifting.
  
• Control the narrative. Announce the change in a way that reinforces clarity and momentum: “We’re refocusing on hitting our goals, and this transition sets us up to win.”

Step 4: Reinforce with the Team

When the B-player leaves, there will be aftershocks. Their allies may feel unsettled. Their former team may carry frustration or confusion.

This is where you step in as a stabilizer. Meet with people directly. Acknowledge the disruption. But always bring the focus back to growth and goals:

“I know this change may feel abrupt. I also know you want to win. Let’s get clear on what success looks like and how we’ll get there together.”

This is where your A-players will often breathe a sigh of relief. The removal of toxicity unlocks energy that’s been bottled up.

Step 5: Learn From the Miss

Finally, don’t waste the mistake. Every bad hire is a chance to refine your process.

• Did you ignore red flags in the interview? How could you have identified them sooner?
  
• Did you hire for pedigree instead of growth trajectory? How could you have challenged your biases or assumptions?
  
• Did you delay addressing the issue out of fear? How could you have intercepted the behavior earlier?

Answering these honestly will make your next round of recruiting sharper.

What About Redeploying B-Players?

Sometimes, a leader isn’t a bad person- they might be completely the right person, but they’re just in the wrong seat. They’re performing like a B-player because the seat doesn’t fit their skills.

If that’s the case, that's not on them- that's on you. So, have the courage to talk about it openly. Sometimes a pivot to a different role can turn a B-player performance into an A-player contribution. But be careful: if the core issue are values-based (ie: either company values, or avoiding accountability, prioritizing optics over outcomes, etc), moving them to a new seat won’t solve the problem.

At The End Of The Day

The biggest mistake A-player leaders make isn’t hiring a B-player. It’s keeping them.

If you see the pattern, address it. If you confirm the behavior, act decisively. And when you transition them out, do it with clarity and focus — not drama.

Remember: your team takes their cues from you. If you tolerate mediocrity, they’ll assume it’s acceptable. But if you protect the culture of execution, you give them the freedom to win.

How to Hire More A-Players Going Forward

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: you don’t scale a business on average talent. You scale it on A-players — people who bring energy, own outcomes, and make everyone around them better.

But here’s where many leadership teams stumble: they confuse polish for potential. A fancy résumé, big-name logos, or slick interviewing skills don’t guarantee someone is going to win in your business. In fact, some of the worst hires I’ve seen looked incredible on paper.

So how do you avoid that trap? Let’s talk about it.

Hire for Trajectory, Not Pedigree

The most dangerous mistake leaders make is hiring for what looks safe. You see a candidate who’s already done the job somewhere else, maybe at a bigger company, and you think, “Perfect. Plug-and-play.”

But here’s the problem: if they’ve already mastered the role, what’s in it for them? Where’s the growth?

A-players crave challenge. They want to stretch. They want to take a role and make it bigger. That’s why the best hires often look slightly underqualified on paper but clearly show drive, curiosity, and the capacity to learn fast.

Pedigree doesn’t scale your business. Growth trajectory does.

Sell the Opportunity, Not the Spin

A-players don’t want hype. They want substance.

Too many leaders try to oversell during recruiting — painting the company as shinier, smoother, or more “perfect” than it is. The problem is that the truth always comes out. And when it does, A-players feel duped.

Instead, be honest about where you are. Share the wins and the gaps. Then show how this role is a chance to create real impact.

The best pitch you can make is: “Here’s the scoreboard. Here’s where we’re stuck. If you’re hungry to grow, this is a place you can win faster than anywhere else.”

That kind of honesty resonates with the right people — and repels the wrong ones. Which is exactly what you want.

Move Fast, But Don’t Cut Corners

Recruiting A-players isn’t about dragging out the process until everyone’s exhausted. In fact, moving too slowly is one of the easiest ways to lose them.

The best candidates are in-demand. If you wait weeks between interviews or get bogged down in endless steps, they’ll be gone.

That said, speed doesn’t mean sloppiness. It means clarity.

• Design a rigorous- but streamlined- process.
  
• Use real skill tests, not just conversational interviews.
  
• Compress the timeline — stack interviews into a single day if possible.
• Be decisive when you know.

I’ve seen leaders fly a candidate out the very next day, run them through the team, and make an offer on the spot. That kind of speed sends a message: we know what matters, and we don’t waste time. A-players respect that.

Create the Environment Where A-Players Want to Stay

Recruiting is only half the game. If you don’t create a place where A-players thrive, you’ll be stuck on a hiring treadmill.

That’s why retention matters just as much as recruiting. A-players stay where:

• Scoreboards are clear. They can see if they’re winning or losing.
  
• Growth is real. They’re challenged, stretched, and coached.
  
• Accountability is consistent. Everyone’s held to the same standards, no favorites.
  
• Dead weight is dealt with. Nothing drives an A-player away faster than watching mediocrity get a free pass.

When you build that kind of environment, your culture becomes magnetic. A-players want to be part of it. And they bring more A-players with them.

Final Word

If you want your business to scale without chaos, here’s the pill to swallow: you can’t just hire A-players. You also have to deal with B-players.

The biggest mistake leaders make isn’t failing to set vision. It isn’t forgetting to market. It isn’t even a bad strategy. The biggest mistake is waiting too long to identify and transition B-players out of leadership roles.

Because every month you let them stay:

• You lose the trust of your true A-players.
  
• You cloud the scoreboard with noise.
  
• You shrink your margin for growth.

That’s why at Eightfold Advantage, we help leadership teams install the kind of operating systems that make the truth visible. With clear scoreboards, defined roles, and consistent rhythms, A-players thrive — and B-players can’t hide.

When you get this right, everything changes. Momentum returns. Culture strengthens. Growth becomes fun again.

If you’re tired of carrying dead weight at the leadership level, let’s talk. A 25-minute conversation could be the first step toward building the A-player team you always imagined.

Because the difference between businesses that stall and those that scale isn’t luck. It’s the courage to build and protect an A-player culture.