Underrated hiring principle from @finkd -- he's been saying this for years and I rarely hear anyone else quote it.

> Only hire direct reports that you would be willing to work for.

Apply it recursively, concentrate extraordinary talent.

That rarely happens. But if it does, the org may reach a talent critical mass.

Manhattan Project certainly, Bell Labs for a while.
Early on in {Google, OpenAI, Anthropic}.

But this principle never survived the hyper-growth pressures to hire. Maybe now with AI, teams can stay small & hire slow enough to apply it.