Back when I was a manager/impresario of orchestra and chamber music ensembles, I was of course always having to select people for what is possibly the ultimate team sport, i.e., orchestral playing.
We all like to think that everyone is special in their own way, and I’d love to give everyone a trophy. But when you start pushing the envelope of human capability, well, like the path to the peak of Everest, there are always going to be some people who simply aren’t as good as others, and just shouldn’t be there. They threaten, not just the success of the team, but its very survival. A few rules I learned:
1) If one does not identify and immediately remove second raters, they
will drive the first raters out.
2) First raters will hold you in silent contempt if they see you hiring a second rater. They will lose all respect for you, and see YOU as being a second rater.
3) Second raters do not see them themselves as second raters. Their
ability to delude themselves is infinite.
4) Second raters will sabotage anything and everything if necessary to
make first raters look bad.
5) Second raters will manufacture nonstop emotional conflict in order to
to distract from their second rated-ness.
6) Second raters are always far more interested in gaming the system for their own advantage and advancement in the internal pecking orders than they are in achieving the team’s ultimate goal and purpose.
7: One must be capable of being cold and harsh if one is to effectively deal with getting rid of second raters. They are never humble, and always curse and revile you when you fire them.
(c) Justin Locke
