A-Players

How to Hire the People Who Matter Most in the New World of Work

by Anish Batlaw, Jessica Neal, and Ram Charan

Drawing on decades of experience building and scaling businesses, recruiting thousands of employees during periods of transformation and advising boards and CEOs across industries and geographies, Anish Batlaw, Jessica Neal, and Ram Charan have seen a clear trend: performance differences within teams and across companies are driven by the presence of true A-players.

A-Players defines what a modern "A-player" really is, lays out the step-by-step approach needed to attract more of these all stars, and backs it all with real data. The authors' approach has been tested across hundreds of leadership hires, over multiple years, with outcomes measured, not assumed. It materially improves hiring accuracy and explains why some companies consistently outperform peers with similar strategies and resources. If you're serious about performance, this is where it starts.

This book is not about better processes for HR. It's about better decisions by leaders who use hiring as one of the most powerful levers available to drive performance.