by Bradford D. Smart
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| List Price: | $29.95 |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $16.78 |
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Product Description
World renowned consultant and industrial psychologist shares his proven strategy for hiring "A" players, building dream teams, and achieving excellence--a fool-proof system now in place at today's leading companies. Great companies are made, not born. The secret is hiring the right people--the "A" players. This is, of course, easier said than done. Statistically, half of all employment situations result in a mis-hire; the wrong person for the wrong job. And with the cost of a mis-hire at twenty-four times salary, the financial drain can be staggering! Compare that with Brad Smart's 90% success rate and understand why topgraded organizations such as General Electric and Allied Signal consistently beat the competition. In this unparalleled work, Dr. Smart introduces readers to the tograding concept--how and why it works. The author sets forth principles which hold true for Fortune 500 companies as well as small emerging companies. Topgrading is a silver bullet--the corporate initiative that empowers all other corporate initiatives. The author spells out his practical hands-on approach and provides intriguing case studies culled from his file of more than 4,000 in-depth interviews. Topgrading's expert coaching techniques are also revealed and readers learn how managers who topgrade become leaders, achieving success and excellence not only for their companies, but also for themselves. This book is not without controversy, however, as Brad discusses how those who don't pull their own weight, the chronic "C" players, must step aside, be redeployed, or terminated.
Amazon.com Review
The key to building a superior company, an increasing number of observers now agree, is the ongoing ability to recruit and retain superior personnel. In Topgrading, industrial psychologist and global consultant Bradford Smart expands upon this idea by examining in great detail exactly how today's premier organizations have assembled such top-level employees, and then showing precisely how others can do it, too. "Simply put, topgrading is the practice of packing the team with A players and clearing out the C players," Smart writes. "'A players' is defined as the top 10 percent of talent available at all salary levels--best of class. With this radical definition, you are not a topgrader until your team consists of all A players. Period." Essentially a best-practices manual for developing this outstanding personnel pool, the book is based on more than 4,000 interviews and case studies conducted by Smart at major corporations like General Electric as well as fast-growing high-tech companies and small family-owned firms. He further bolsters its effectiveness by including his extensive "Chronological In-Depth Structured Interview Guide," along with other assessment tools and hands-on strategies for assembling an ideal work team. --Howard Rothman
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Big letdown, 2008-06-16
This is little more than a promotional flyer which you can download free from their website. It's a ripoff, don't bother. The ideas may be good but you can't evaluate it from the blurbs in this advertisement posing as a book.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Wealth of Information , 2008-03-11
There is a wealth of information in Topgrading. Most business owners do not understand the importance of having the right people in the right spots. As the statistics show, about 75% of the people hired for a job are mis-hires. That is to say they are not the best available for the job and the salary range in the location of the job. In short, they are not "A" employees.
There are many business that have a protective culture. Once an employee, they are entitled to keep their job. As Dr. Smart points out, your company cannot afford to continue to mis-hire and/or keep the "B & C" employees on the payroll. Business is simply too competitive.
The book is well written and covers the subject in depth. The book is long and it can be slow reading. However, as Brad points out, you do not need to read all the details. It is designed so that you can read the bullet points and delve deeper in those sections that are of particular interest to you.
The book is primarily written for those hiring managers in larger companies. The most value to be gained will be from those companies that fit that category. However it is well documented that the cost of mis-hires and the percentage of mis-hires is too high for any employer to ignore the information in this book.
There is a wealth of information in the appendix. Most people will say that hiring this way takes too much time and cost too much. To that anyone who understands the process would ask, how much time and money does it cost to make a hiring mistake and how much to do it over.
In today's competitive environment, business owners do not have the luxury to allow "B & C" employees to run the ship. If you truly want to run a top notch company, you will only achieve that with "A" employees.
Everyone knows that the quality and growth of your business will depend on the quality of your employees. This is a wonderful manual for getting 90% "A" players on your team.
A must read for anyone responsible for hiring in their company - no matter the size of the company.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Top Grading's Low Grade, 2008-02-18
I saw the book listed on Wall St Career Journal, supposedly what NYC HR people use... Unfortunately the book had very little to no information beyond the age old surround yourself with the best people.. and a few quotes. The book "High-Performs: Recruiting and Retaining Top Employees" by Alan Dubinsky and Steve Skinner had much more actionable information.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
A Must Read for all Executives and Managers, 2008-01-30
This is the best interviewing book I have read. I have been in Executive Search for over 10 years, recruiting "C" level executives for technology companies and I buy 10-20 copies of this book at a time to give them away.
Dr. Smart describes exactly what goes on in the interviewing process, the dynamics of the team and who is likely to recruit whom. Paying attention and utilizing his methods allows companies to build world class management teams.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Read before making your next hire!, 2007-11-26
This is the best and most comprehensive book I have ever seen on recruiting top sales people. While the methodology is time and labor intensive, our firm has seen the positive impacts. We are now hiring sales superstars and our turnover is way down. Can you afford NOT to read and study this book?
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