Approach 1: Capacity talent vs. cul-de-sac talent
In the book The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, author Gary Keller identifies two types of employees: capacity talent and cul-de-sac talent.
- Capacity talent are people who can not only do the job they’re hired for, but can also grow beyond it and adopt new responsibilities and tasks. These are employees who can think beyond the job’s basic requirements and take into account how their actions will affect the entire business.
- Cul-de-sac talent are people who can do the job well, but will never grow beyond it. These are employees who will diligently perform their core job tasks, but are unable to see the big picture and progress to a larger role in the future.
Approach 2: T-shaped people vs. I-shaped people

Approach 3: The Three-Legged Stool

- Strategy — First, the three-legged stool model requires that you consider the current state of the job market. When unemployment is low, it’s hard to find employees, particularly the superstars. Conversely, when poor economic conditions lead to a flood of unemployed candidates, you’ll have a much easier time attracting even the best candidates. However, the challenge will be one of identifying those superstars among the vast number of less talented potential employees. Using an assessment like DISC to screen for top candidates can help.
- People — Then you must take into account how the best employees tend to think about their careers. A highly talented individual is much more interested in career growth than in making a lateral move, so the job description and other hiring documents inn your recruiting process need to emphasize long-term opportunity so as to attract such prized employees. For example, capacity talent and T-shaped talent would likely be interested in jobs that let them do a number of different tasks rather than focusing on a narrow range of responsibilities.
- Process — Finally, you must bring together the first two factors in a well-designed, scalable hiring process that minimizes the amount of time and effort you and your employees are putting in on hiring, and maximizes the chances of finding and identifying top talent.