Right Person, Right Seat, Right Time
An A-player isn't absolute — it's fit to the seat the business needs right now.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 85%
Glazer rejects the idea that 'A-player' is a permanent label. Performance is contextual: the right person, in the right seat, at the right time. In a business growing 40% a year, the leader of each function has to grow 40% a year just to stay in the same job — an extremely hard thing to do. Some people are great from zero to five million and want to do that again rather than take the next, bigger job. The leader should do everything possible to help people grow with the business, but must also make the hard call when the seat has permanently changed and gently help the person find a better-fitting role elsewhere.
Origin
Glazer watched people at his own fast-growing agency cycle into and out of being A-players, and the host shared the same pattern of team members being 'a rockstar one year, not the next.' He reframed the confusion by rejecting the absolute A-player label in favor of fit between person, seat, and moment.
Core principles
- 01Being an A-player is not an absolute trait; it's the right person in the right seat at the right time.
- 02When a business grows 40% a year, each function leader must grow 40% a year just to keep their job.
- 03As the business changes, the seat changes — and some people don't want or can't do the next job.
- 04The leader's job is to help people grow, then make the hard call when the seat has outgrown them.
How to run it
- 1
Define the current seat
Spell out what the role actually requires at the company's present stage, recognizing it may differ sharply from two years ago.
Watch out The job may have quietly changed while the title stayed the same.
- 2
Measure growth rate against the business
Check whether the person is improving at the pace the business is growing — a 40%-a-year company needs each function leader growing 40% a year.
Pro tip Distinguish a temporary off-year from a genuine growth ceiling.
- 3
Invest in helping them grow
Do everything you can — training, capacity building, coaching — to help the person grow into the changed seat.
- 4
Make the hard call when needed
When the seat has permanently outgrown the person, the leader must step in and help them find a role that fits, rather than letting them cling to a job that no longer exists.
Pro tip Frame it as 'I don't think you want to do this — let me help you find something else.'
Watch out Many people know the job changed but are afraid to admit it, so the leader must initiate.
In the wild
Some people are excellent building a function from zero to five million dollars and want to do that again — but they don't want the different, larger job that comes after that milestone.
→ Recognizing this lets the leader move the person to a fitting challenge instead of forcing them into a seat they don't want.
If the business is growing 40% a year, Glazer notes the leader of each function needs to grow 40% a year just to stay in the same job — a genuinely hard bar that not everyone clears.
→ Leaders get a concrete way to judge whether someone is keeping pace with a role that's rapidly expanding.
Common mistakes
Treating A-player as permanent
Assuming a former top performer will always be a top performer ignores that the seat changes and people cycle through fit and misfit.
Avoiding the hard conversation
Letting someone cling to a job that has fundamentally changed, out of discomfort, hurts both the person and the company.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders of fast-scaling companies deciding who can grow with the business and who cannot.
Not ideal for
Stable, slow-changing organizations where roles rarely shift underneath people.
From the transcript
“it's the right person in the right seat at the right time and when your business is changing that much the seat's changing”
“if your business is growing 40% a year the leader of each of those functions needs to grow 40% a year just to stay at…”
“this isn't the same job it was two years ago”
From the episode
Robert Glazer: How to Build a Winning Team and Culture
Robert Glazer