Sometimes the team with the most talent loses. The 2006 Brazilian National team was the favorite to win the World Cup. They were touted as, potentially, the most talented soccer team ever assembled. Yet, the world favorite was eliminated during the quarter finals much to the disappointment of Brazilians worldwide, including yours truly. What happened? How can so much raw talent, experience, and stardom result in such a poor performance? While some blame Brazil’s coach, Parreira, most of us saw clearly the problem play itself out on the field: superstars who could not play together as a team. It was obvious that the players were more preoccupied in looking good individually than winning games together. Individually, they were the best in the world; together, however, they were less than the sum total of their talents. All the talent, pride and praise of Brazil’s “jogo bonito (translated, “the beautiful game”), could…

I decided years ago not to hire on potential. It was one of the better business decisions I have made. Everyone in our team has potential. Lots of it. But that’s not the reason they work here. They have a place in this team because they were able to harness their potential and produce, create, develop and ultimately perform the the task needed by the organization. I meet people on a regular basis that amaze me on how much raw talent and potential they have to succeed in their professional careers. However, some of them never do. They don’t have discipline, self confidence, inner motivation, focus, goals, that allow them to harness the raw talent into something useful. After all it’s not fair to the rest of the team to deal with a member who has the ability but for whatever reason might perform to their potential. Do you think…

“How do you sleep at night knowing that so many people are dependent on you for their livelihoods?” Asked a friend I hadn’t seen since The A Group was in its infancy. As a young entrepreneur he is quite aware of his responsibilities for those whom he hired. The question prompted a few realizations: The A Group has currently the largest overhead in its 10-year history Our projects are larger and more complex than ever before I sleep more soundly now than ever before By all accounts, my level of anxiety and stress should be proportional to the growth of my company. But the opposite is true. It’s not that my work has gotten easier with the growth of the company; it has, however, become more strategic. While there might be a number of factors that have contributed to my being in such professional place, I can think of one…

You can cultivate talent, but you cannot teach, coach, or even motivate people into developing skills they do not posses or are not naturally gifted. I used to believe that with enough effort, people could do anything they want. After all, I was told growing up that I could do anything I wanted to do as long as I set my mind to it and worked hard enough at it. Well, that’s a lie. A big fat lie. One of the reasons for whatever success we have seen at The A Group rests in our ability to hire talented people and challenge and resource them to continue to grow. I’m proud of the work of we do, but I’m mostly proud of the team that output so much quality. I have seen companies twice our size that are not able to accomplish as much. Here are some skills you cannot…

We purposely don’t have many sacred cows in the businesses that I run. We adapt and change fast and have become “platform agnostics” so we can server our clients better in a fast-changing business environment. Sacred cows only slow things down and are always self serving. There are three things, however, that we fight hard never to compromise. And if we ever do, we are quickly reminded of their importance and why after all these years, they are still relevant. We call it our 3 C’s. These core values are more than just posters on a wall or words on a website. These helped form the DNA of  these businesses and have everything to do with the environment we create internally. We take our time to hire someone at The A Group, so managing them is an easier process. C is for Character Character is a foundation of any success…

I’m fortunate to have an amazing group of talented and committed people working at The A Group. It’s truly a dream team. And with each new hire, the stakes seem to be getting higher. I like that. Talent, attracts talent and elevates the game for everyone. I have written about the 3Cs we screen in hiring: competence, character and chemistry. But beyond that I’m always on the look out for qualities that will make a great addition to our team. Raw talent. Nothing is more exciting than to find someone who has a natural ability in their area of expertise. No matter their area of work inside our organization–designers, programmers, video producers, account managers, or sales–talented people are given the tools and the opportunity to do their best work. I’m convinced you can help a talented person grow and flourish, but without it, no amount of coaching and tools can…

The 2006 Brazilian National team was favorite to win the World Cup. They were touted as, potentially, the most talented soccer team ever assembled. Yet, the world favorite was eliminated during the quarter finals much to the disappointment of Brazilians worldwide, including yours truly. What happened? How can so much raw talent, experience and stardom result in such a poor performance? While some blame Brazil’s coach, Parreira, most of us saw clearly the problem play itself out on the field: superstars who could not play together as a team. It was obvious that the players were more preoccupied in looking good than winning games. Individually, they were the best in the world; together, however, they were less than the sum total of their talents. All the pride and praise of Brazil’s “jogo bonito,” translated “the beautiful game” could not make up for the lack of team spirit and comradely on…