First Who, Then What
Updated 2026-08-08
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A principle from Jim Collins's research on companies that made the transition from good to great. The finding was that leaders in those companies brought the right people onto the team and removed the wrong ones before settling on a new direction. The reasoning is that strategy depends on conditions that change, while capable and self-directed people can revise a plan as conditions shift. Conversely, the wrong people will undermine any strategy, however well designed. The order matters: choosing people first is not an excuse to avoid strategy, but a way to make strategy revisable.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Hiring order: fill key seats before locking a strategy that depends on capabilities you do not yet have. - Seat fit: ask whether the person is in the right seat, not only whether they are the right person. - Exit honesty: address mismatches directly, since keeping the wrong person taxes everyone else.
Anchor fast decisions
Strategies are predictions about an environment, and predictions degrade as conditions change. People who can interpret new information and adjust are therefore worth more than any specific plan, because they regenerate the plan when it fails. The reverse also holds: a capable person in a mismatched role produces friction that spreads, since others must compensate. Selecting people first converts strategy from a fixed commitment into a continuously revised hypothesis.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_to_Greatverified
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