Article
Identifying the Real MVPs
August 7, 2023
When you watch top-level sports, it’s crystal clear who are the real MVPs.
These extraordinary individuals have insane physical skills and set a high bar for themselves and their teammates. They thrive under pressure, always deliver top-notch results, and know how to deliver when time is tight. They live and breathe excellence and visualize success and peak performance. They are the true team players, the ones you want on your side.
The business world also has MVPs: the high performing A Players. They bring their A‑game, every time, are prepared, intelligent, resourceful, and always hungry for improvement. They go above and beyond, put the team first, and never settle for anything less than excellence.
Change the Game
In the sports and business worlds, the challenge is how to find and recruiting exceptional performers.
Traditional interview methods, with a 25% success rate in finding high performers, fail to uncover the performance patterns that set the true stars apart from the rest and don’t assess if a candidate fits well with your culture.
We leverage Topgrading™, a proven methodology that digs deep and shows how a candidate really thinks, acts, and performs in the real world.
It makes hiring disciplines more rigourous and data-oriented, similar to the diligence you would do if you were to install a new critical software platform like an ERP or CRM, or if you were going to change vendors for a critical part of the business.
By the way, author Brad Smart and Topgrading President Chris Marsau have just released Foolproof Hiring: Powerful, Proven Keys to Hiring HIGH Performers, a new book that makes understanding the methodology simpler and easier to understand.
We highly recommend Topgrading to our clients and we use it ourselves. We’ve seen, over close 30 years of doing this, that you can proactively put the time and energy up front or reactively pay the price when the person isn’t a great fit for your company.
The Challenge
- If you’re not getting close to 75% A‑Players in your hiring decisions, you should look at Topgrading.
If we can help you to make better hiring decisions by equipping you with Topgrading skills – or do it for you – please let us know.
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About Lawrence & Co.
Lawrence & Co. is a growth strategy and leadership advisory firm that helps mid-market companies achieve lasting, reliable growth. Our Growth Management System turns 30 years of experience into practical steps that drive clarity, alignment, and performance—so leaders can grow faster, with less friction, and greater confidence.
About Kevin Lawrence
Kevin Lawrence has spent three decades helping companies scale from tens of millions to hundreds of millions in revenue. He works side-by-side with CEOs and leadership teams across North America, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and Europe, bringing real-world insights from hands-on experience. Kevin is the author of Your Oxygen Mask First, a book of 17 habits to help high-performing leaders grow sustainably while protecting their mental health and resilience. He also contributed to Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0). Based in Vancouver, he leads Lawrence & Co, a boutique firm of growth advisors.