I Told My Client He Was Being a “B-Player”

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Today’s Level Up: Inside Executive Coaching (your access to real client coaching questions and answers) explores how even A-level leaders quietly lower their standards under pressure. And how seemingly reasonable “good enough” decisions can create bigger problems later.

This conversation shows how to recognize when urgency is eroding your judgment, why hiring is one of the highest-leverage places to hold the bar, and how to keep short-term pressure from turning into a long-term compromise.

I sent one of the most uncomfortable emails of my career.

I was so direct with a client that it was borderline offensive, and I was genuinely afraid that they would fire me. But I knew what I believed about their situation, and I was convinced that they needed this feedback.

I knew that softening my words would preserve my client’s ego.

But that telling them the truth would improve their performance.

The email began like this:

“I’m now going to say the single most direct thing I have ever said to you.”

My client was leading the search for a critical executive hire in the banking sector, and had narrowed his options to one candidate who was competent, experienced, and would probably do just fine.

But he knew that the candidate was nothing more than “fine.”

So when my client emailed to say that he was really considering this candidate, I wrote the sentence that made me worry.

“You’ve probably heard, ‘A’s hire A’s and B’s hire C’s. You are about to hire a C-player…

What does that say about you?”

“You are an A-player in an A role.

But you are about to make a B-level decision.”

I was not calling him a B-player.

But I was warning him that he was about to act like one.

Just like star athletes or performers sometimes do, he was about to choke because of the pressure of the decision.

The advantage we have in business, especially hiring, is that decisions rarely need to be made in a split second like they do on the court or the field.

However, this leads to a different challenge: it is often harder to notice when we are not meeting the standard.

Nobody wakes up one morning deciding to lower their standards.

When a pro athlete or performer doesn’t hit the mark, it is obvious. Their stats go down, they miss big moments, and the difference is visible.

But when it comes to building a business, lowered standards just look like mediocrity. And in the beginning, mediocrity often looks like adequate performance.

Adequate performance early on is the canary in the coal mine for future failure.

It is because ongoing pressure causes their standards to erode.

The search for a candidate has gone on longer than expected, the team is behind, and the business wants someone in the seat. So, when you meet a candidate who seems good enough, you settle.

The search for the “Right” candidate turns into the search for the “Right Now” candidate.

This is what I saw happening with my client.