Many comedians who didn't succeed at Saturday Night Live, like Tim Robinson, later achieved great success. This illustrates that failure is often due to a mismatch with the environment or team dynamics, not a deficiency in talent. The right context is required for talent to flourish.
When considering a talented candidate who isn't a perfect cultural fit, leaders should get the team to consciously "opt-in" to spending extra energy to support them. This reframes a hiring challenge as a collective investment in a person's success, building team ownership from day one.
An employee who thrived in a startup's early stages might struggle as the company grows, becomes more corporate, and changes its dynamics. "Fit" is not a static attribute but a relationship between a person and the company's current stage, requiring leaders to re-evaluate team composition over time.
High-achievers, especially when feeling insecure, often believe they must dominate every situation. A leader's job is to explicitly relieve this pressure, allowing them to trust their team and focus on their core strengths. This enables better performance, as seen with Peyton Manning at SNL.