A company s success is determined by the Meaning Factcheck Usage

Context

Tracy wasn’t just making a philosophical statement. He placed this idea right at the beginning of a practical guide on hiring. He’s making the case that your number one job as a leader is to be a talent magnet. Everything else—your strategy, your products—flows from that single, critical activity.

Usage Examples

So how do you actually use this? Let me give you a couple of scenarios from my own playbook.

• For a Founder: When you’re tempted to spend all your seed funding on product development, force yourself to allocate a significant chunk to hiring a stellar, foundational team member. That hire will yield a much higher ROI than any single feature.
• In a Team Meeting: Use it to reframe a post-mortem on a failed project. Instead of “What was wrong with the product?”, ask “Where did our process or team dynamics break down? What skills were we missing?” It shifts the conversation from blame to building capability.
• For a Manager: When fighting for a higher salary band for a top performer, this is your mantra. Argue that retaining this person is a direct investment in the company’s success, not just an HR cost.

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FAQ

Question: But what about companies like Apple? Isn’t it all about the product?

Answer: Great question. But think about it—Apple’s success wasn’t just the iPhone. It was the team that Steve Jobs assembled. Ive, Cook, and countless others. The product was the output of an insanely talented group of people with a unique culture. The people came first.

Question: Does this mean product quality doesn’t matter at all?

Answer: Not at all. It matters immensely. But this quote is about the root cause. A great team will create a great product and then a great second product, and a third. A bad team might get lucky once, but they can’t sustain it.

Question: How do I apply this if I’m not in charge of hiring?

Answer: You apply it to your own personal development. Become one of those high-quality people. Be the person others look to as the reason for a project’s success. Your value in the market will skyrocket.