Episode 644

full
Published on:

23rd Jul 2025

How to Build a Team of All A-Players with Rick Crossland

What if 90% of your team were high-performers, and your revenue tripled?

In this episode, Bill is joined by Rick Crossland to break down what it really takes to build a high-performance team. Rick shares his system for recruiting, coaching, and retaining A players who consistently outperform their peers and elevate your entire organization. From hiring secrets to accountability culture to a powerful new tool for talent evaluation, this conversation is packed with ways to truly cultivate an extraordinary team. 

Rick Crossland is a talent expert, the founder of A Player Advantage and the author of The A Player: The Definitive Playbook. He’s worked with brands like Johnson & Johnson, Ford, and Lifesavers, and now helps companies of all sizes build talent-dense organizations using proven systems and playbooks.  

Topics explored in this episode:

(10:05) How to Test for Coachability

  • Why hypotheticals don’t work
  • Using real-life stories and hobbies to find the truth for ‘true’ coachability 
  • The red flags of performative coachability

(18:00) How to Move to an All A Player Team

  • A normal business typically has only about 30% A Players. 
  • How clear roles, accountability, and merit-based playbooks outperform “relational management”
  • Stop tolerating C players—they demoralize your top talent

(27:00) Can You Replace People with AI? 

  • Can you use AI to enhance your team and your people’s performance? 
  • Why top grading alone isn’t enough; you need a system and great recruiters

(33:15) The A Player Talent Analyzer

  • How to measure A player percentage accurately
  • Monthly evaluation: effort, results, and coaching logs
  • Why 50% of Bs can become As—but only if they want to

(44:30) Purpose Magnets and Coin-Operated Players

  • Why end-user-focused purpose matters most
  • How purpose-driven teams outperform paycheck-driven ones
  • Aligning personal purpose with company mission

Thanks to Rick Crossland for being on the show!

Learn more at: https://aplayeradvantage.com/

Get the book: The A Player

Connect with Rick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickcrossland/


Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the Scaling Up Business podcast, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

 

Join Bill in the Growth Navigator Coaching Program: https://ScalingCoach.com/workshop 


Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/BillGall

Bill on YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/@BillGallagherScalingCoach 


Visit https://ScalingUp.com to learn more about Verne Harnish, our team of Scaling Up Coaches, and the Scaling Up Performance Platform, which includes coaching, learning, software, and summit. We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around people, strategy, execution, and cash so that they can scale up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. 



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About the Podcast

Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher
Do you dream of an easier way to scale and grow your business? Do you wish you didn’t have to work so hard and put in as many hours? Do you find growth too slow, or hard to sustain?

This podcast—Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher—can help you achieve and maintain the growth you want.

A message from your host: “I’ve been in your shoes as a founder, CEO, and executive leader. I’ve coached and trained many leaders just like you over more than 15 years to grow their businesses successfully and profitably. But more than that, I’ve helped give them their time and sanity back. My core strength is making the growth process easier, faster, and way more fun.”

A dynamic thought leader, Bill talks with fascinating and brilliant guests each week, including visionary CEOs, trailblazing entrepreneurs, best-selling authors, renowned business strategists, and more.

Broadly, each episode focuses on one of the four major decision areas every entrepreneur and company must get right: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. More specifically, the show explores topics such as:

* Business Growth & Scaling.
* Customer Experience & Marketing.
* Innovation & Differentiation.
* Leadership Development.
* Delegation & Accountability.
* Vision & Strategy.
* Team Dynamics.
* Hiring & Talent Management.
* Company Culture.
* Employee Engagement.
* Crisis Management.
* Effective Communication.
* Influence & Persuasion.
* Business Strategies.

Running a business is ultimately about freedom. Subscribe to this podcast to learn how leaders like you can get your organizations moving in sync, create something significant, and still enjoy the ride. Subscribe if you want to elevate your business to unprecedented heights by tuning in to a masterclass in business excellence.

For information on Bill Gallagher’s coaching and training programs, and Scaling Up Workshops, visit www.ScalingCoach.com

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William Gallagher