Do You Have an A-Student Who Will Help You Pass the Test?

Bo Peabody’s mom used to always tell him, “Bo, you could go to Harvard or the local community college; no matter what, you’ll always get a B.”

Years later Peabody, author of Lucky or Smart: Secrets to an Entrepreneurial Life acknowledges mom was right. And his guess is that you’re a B-student as well, most entrepreneurs are. I wonder if you’ll see yourself in his definitions? He says:

B-students, don’t know everything about anything and are excellent at nothing. B-students do, however, know something about a lot of things, and they can complete almost any task with some modicum of competence. There is no one thing they do well. But there are many things they do well enough.

A-students, on the other hand, know a lot about one thing, whether it is technology or marketing or sales or finance. And they do this one thing extremely well. If they don’t do it well, it bothers them. A-students want to do things perfectly all the time.

A-student traits are very bad for an entrepreneur, but very good for a manager. Your skills as a B-student, including impatience and an ability to think laterally, are vital to get a company off the ground. But as your company matures and you need structure, acute attention to detail and a longer attention span — it’s time to call in someone with complementary skills.

As Peabody says, “In the end, the job of entrepreneurs is to attract, organize, and motivate A-student managers. And the only way we can do that is to realize, accept and embrace the fact that we are B-students. One B and a slew of A’s is a very good report card at any school.”