Who: Solve Your #1 Problem
Authors: Geoff Smart, Randy Street
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Length: 2008
How to define the business's most important problem and build the leadership capacity to solve it.
Original
TranslationBrief
The essential idea
The book's premise is that a leader's number-one problem is often not what to do but who will do it. Hiring for key roles should be a repeatable management system that lowers the cost of people mistakes, not an intuitive sequence of conversations with whoever appears promising.
The A Method has four stages. Scorecard defines the role through its mission, three to five measurable outcomes over 12–18 months, required competencies, and non-goals. Source creates a predictable flow through referrals, recruiters, and direct search. Select combines screening, a chronological Who interview, focused competency interviews, and references. Sell explains the mission, scope, team, and growth environment transparently.
The method replaces charisma and vague job descriptions with evidence and calibration. Interview signals should be compared with post-hire outcomes so the organization learns which questions, achievements, and reference patterns actually predict success in its context.
Decision lens
Key takeaways
Hiring is a management system, not a streak of lucky interviews.
A role scorecard should describe mission, outcomes, competencies, and explicit non-goals.
Referrals, recruiters, and direct sourcing work only when the target profile is calibrated.
A chronological Who interview reveals patterns across real achievements and transitions.
Focused and reference interviews cross-check signals rather than relying on likability.
Strong candidates still need an honest account of the role's meaning, influence, and environment.
Workplace experiment
Apply it at work
- 1
Create scorecards for two or three critical roles before writing or revising their job descriptions.
- 2
Calibrate interviewers on shared evidence and rating criteria for each competency.
- 3
Build a stable sourcing channel and measure candidate quality rather than raw volume.
- 4
Run a post-hire retrospective to compare interview evidence with performance in the role.
Choose one action, define the observable effect, and keep the first test small enough to reverse.
Evidence
Sources and further reading
Additional sources
Channel, aggregator, and commentary links confirm the work; they are not the primary source.