one minute blog: the triangle of talent

This is the One Minute Blog (OMB). An email of good stuff for you to think about over the weekend, that takes a minute to read.

Today’s word count: 351

Estimated read time: 1 min 34 sec.

My mentor once told me: “everyone sucks in their first 5 years as a manager. It’s up to you if you’re going to suck for the next 15 too.” 

Today - I’m going to tell you about a little triangle that saved my a** many times as a manager. 

I call it the Triangle of Talent. 

Every company has a distribution of talent. It looks something like this: 

The weird thing is: as a manager, you’ll spend 90% of your time dealing with the employees on the left (problem employees) or the middle (average joes).

But it’s the people on the right side (the star employees) that create 90% of the value in the company. 

If you’re in a company - you wanna be one of these “right side” players. 

If you’re running a company - you want as many “right side” players as you can.

As Elon says:

If you don’t speak dork, what he means is: “the team you build is the company you build… so build a great team.”

OK  enough teasing - here’s my Triangle of Talent:

Quick explanation: 

• Forget job titles: All employees are problem solvers

• Problem solving has 2 parts: 

  • Identify the right problem to solve

  • Solve it (yourself, or coordinating others) 

• Star performers live at the top of the triangle

This becomes a very simple guide:

Are you identifying the A+ problem on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis? 

Are you able to solve that problem – either alone, or by coordinating other people? 

(Btw – most people think the job is about solving the problem, and it kinda is, but the easier and more impactful thing is getting good at figuring out "what problem needs to be solved right now?")

That’s it. That’s the whole game.

CEOs - how many level 5s do you have on your team? 

• If you’re just started (cofounders) - you should have 100% level 5

• If you're a small team (5-20 people) - you should have at least 30%

• If you’re a medium team (20-150 people) - shoot for 15% 

• If you’re a big company (150+ people) - 5-10%... but honestly just quit, big companies are no fun 

-Shaan

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_{**Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust®; Members FDIC.}

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