Most professionals believe they’re high performers until they learn what separates truly exceptional talent from the rest. Deepali Vyas, an executive recruiter who has conducted over 50,000 interviews across boardrooms at top companies, believes most people drastically misunderstand where they actually stand in the corporate hierarchy—and that the real threat to organizational performance isn’t who you’d expect.

Vyas, who has over 300,000 followers on TikTok, posted a video this week that shares how leaders classify talent, revealing why some professionals thrive while others stagnate. The framework hinges on what fundamentally motivates each tier of performer.

“A-players seek challenge, B-players seek credit, and C-players seek comfort,” she said in the video.

Confident vs. calculated

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