Oct 20, 2008
The B Student
Organizations always want experts, the best, the A+’s.
But here’s the deal with A+’s: Being an expert, the best, the A+ in one area often means that they are a C, a D, or maybe even an F in another area.
I think organizations also need B students. The B student is not quite an expert and not quite the best in any particular area. But he or she is a B in multiple areas.
- The B student connects A+’s to other A+’s.
- The B student can understand and speak the languages of several different types of A+’s and, therefore, the B student serves as a great translator between groups of A+’s.
- The B student enhances the work of A+’s by filling in gaps and introducing different perspectives.
- The B student brings a big picture view to the table to counter the sometimes narrow, siloed view of the A+’s.
The best organizations attract the experts, the best, the A+’s.
I think the best organizations also recognize the importance of the B student.
No related posts.
I remember that argument going on in my organization probably 25 years ago. It was a research organization for a major corporation. The people having the argument had access to both GPA’s and performance ratings, and plotted out the data to help settle their argument. Performance ratings peaked somewhere between 3.0 and 3.5, the B student.