Ask HN: Why are A Plus Players so rare?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4337912

by diminium • 14 years ago

5 2 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Steve Jobs once said to hire A Plus players because they look for other people who want to learn and do more to advance the field. They want to make sure the work they do is the absolute quality they can accomplish.

This is probably a feeling that most of us here in YN have. Unfortunately for the future of humanity, this is also a very rare trait. Why? Why aren't there more A Plus Players in the world?

bethly• 14 years ago

A-Plus Players tend to underestimate the value other people find in stability, predictability and routine. On the other hand, A-Plus Players themselves can get tied up in perfectionism and never produce anything, much less anything like their best possible work. They often have difficulty coping with the inevitable failures, and will burn themselves out on ideas that aren't working, at which point they stop being A-Plus Players and instead seek out stability, predictability and routine.

What is being described isn't a genetic trait; it is curiosity and optimism that is all to easy to loose or waste.

I would define A-Plus Players not by what they want to do, but by what they actually do. They are the people who do advance the field and produce work that is good enough rapidly so they can respond to feedback and adapt. They are the people who inspire the people around them, who are excited to collaborate especially across disciplines. Their curiosity is rooted in real-world problems and their advances are almost accidental in the process of making the world a slightly nicer place to live. At the same time, they know what kind of balance they need and take care of themselves. Otherwise they don't stay A Plus Players for very long.

To encourage more such people, I would seek to construct cultures of sufficiency, where people can take risks without suffering excessive penalty in case of failure or hurting the people they care about. I would find ways to provide stability that didn't diminish the opportunity for creation (this is where Apple did well.) And I would change schooling to provide more agency to children, so that they learn how to learn, instead of that learning is a chore other people force upon you.

diminium• 14 years ago

"A-Plus Players tend to underestimate the value other people find in stability, predictability and routine."

What stability? There is nothing stable in this world. There are things that stay the same but those are dependent on other factors - none of which never last forever.

Predictability and routines is typical of most people as well. A lot of things useful in life is trial and error doing the same thing over and over again slightly differently until something interesting happens. Look at the Olympic Athletes and how their training regiment works. It's very predictable and it's very routine.

"What is being described isn't a genetic trait; it is curiosity and optimism that is all to easy to loose or waste."

Why is it so easy to loose?

Ask HN: Why are A Plus Players so rare?

Related Stories