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Ever been desperate for help? The deadline’s looming. The pressure’s mounting. You just need someone…anyone to fill the gap.
So, you make the call.
You lower your standards.
Just this once, right?
You tell yourself:
“It’s only one person.”
“It’s just a temporary fix.”
“It won’t really matter in the long run.”
But it does matter. That one compromise is the first step down the slippery slope of settling.
Enter: The Bozo Explosion
Guy Kawasaki, who worked directly for Steve Jobs, coined a term every leader should remember: The Bozo Explosion.
Here’s how it works:
A Players hire A Players.
B Players hire C Players.
C Players hire clowns.
Before you know it, your culture is flooded with mediocrity. You’ve traded excellence for convenience. And now you're managing a circus.
If you hire one clown, don’t be surprised when a whole carload shows up.
For the sake of this illustration, picture the talent level of people on a scale from 1 to 10. The 9’s and 10’s are high-capacity leaders. Interestingly, they don’t want to be the smartest in the room. They like to be challenged and want to grow. So naturally they surround themselves with other 9’s and 10’s.
This is why the best athletes want to compete with the best.
The most gifted musicians want to play with other masters.
Top students seek out the toughest academic environments.
But mediocrity operates differently.
7’s and 8’s often bring in 5’s and 6’s just to feel superior. And those 5’s and 6’s? They pull in 3’s and 4’s. That’s when your team hits critical mass and the Bozo Explosion has ensued.
This is a real risk for any person who is searching for high caliber individuals to join their team. Here are a two strategies I’ve seen the greatest leaders employ:
Don’t Settle for Warm Bodies
When the pressure’s on, don’t settle.
The best organizations would rather wait than hire the wrong person. One bad hire isn’t only a poor performer, it’s a cultural contaminant. The wrong person can undo years of hard work. The right person raises the bar for everyone.
Check Your Motives
If you’re surrounding yourself with people who make you feel like the smartest in the room, that’s not leadership, it’s ego. True leaders don’t recruit for comfort. They recruit for growth.
Build a team that sharpens you, challenges you, and makes you better. Doing so takes confidence, it takes humility, and it takes discipline.
The Bottom Line: Don’t let a shortcut today sabotage your vision tomorrow.
Protect your culture. Raise the standard. And whatever you do, don’t set off the Bozo Explosion.
