World-class businesses, champion sports teams, and elite military organizations all understand that small, talented groups of people can combine for outsized and dominating success (think King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae).

As a leader, who doesn’t want that kind of human performance out of their organization?! But, of course, leadership means nothing without a team and there is no team without people. How do you get the right people in the right roles to enable dominating team performance? The secret doesn’t necessarily lie in experience or past performance. It all starts with character and trust.

Maybe you’ve seen this video before? It’s Simon Sinek talking about a conversation with his friend, Navy SEAL Commander Rich Diviney. It’s the contrast between business organizations measuring, evaluating, and hiring performance versus special forces selection that focuses on character, trust, and potential to be coached, grown, and forged into exemplary performance.

Great businesses can be created and scaled by great people and teams. But greatness itself cannot be scaled – it’s all about the quality of you and your people.