Alignment: People

People aren't just part of alignment—they are alignment. You can have the perfect process, the most transparent culture, and the best tools in the world, but without the right people making decisions, everything else falls apart.

When we talk about the four elements of alignment (People, Process, Culture, and Technology), people come first for a reason. They're the ones interpreting customer feedback, making prioritization decisions, and turning strategy into reality. Get the people part wrong, and no amount of process optimization or cultural engineering can save you.

Why talent matters more than you think

Most companies hire for skills and hope for judgment. They look for someone who can execute tasks rather than someone who can think through problems. In well-aligned companies, the most valuable people aren't just skilled—they have the judgment to know what matters and the communication skills to help others understand why.

The best people don't just do good work; they make everyone around them better. They ask the right questions. They connect dots that others miss. They can translate between different functions and help the whole organization see clearly.

This is why Mark Zuckerberg's hiring philosophy is to only hire people he "would be honored to work for in an alternate universe." It's not about ego—it's about recognizing that great people elevate everyone.

The compounding effect of getting people right

When you have the right people, alignment becomes exponentially easier. Information flows better because people know how to communicate context, not just conclusions. Decisions get made faster because people understand the tradeoffs involved. Problems get caught earlier because people are thinking beyond their immediate responsibilities.

Take Facebook's hiring of Sheryl Sandberg in 2008. Zuckerberg was brilliant at product and technology, but Facebook needed someone who could scale operations, build relationships with advertisers, and navigate complex business challenges. Together, Sandberg and Zuckerberg drove Facebook's astronomical growth because they complemented each other's strengths rather than competing.

The impact wasn't just additive—it was multiplicative. Sandberg didn't just handle the business side; she helped Zuckerberg become a better CEO by bringing operational discipline and strategic thinking to the entire organization. When you get the right people in place, they don't just fill a role; they transform how the whole company operates.

What great people look like in practice

The right people share certain characteristics that go beyond technical skills:

They default to transparency. Instead of hoarding information or playing politics, they share context freely. They assume good intent and help others understand the reasoning behind decisions.

They think in outcomes, not activities. They don't just execute tasks; they understand what success looks like and can adapt their approach when circumstances change.

They translate between worlds. The best engineers can explain technical constraints in business terms. The best product people can help engineering understand user impact. The best salespeople can translate customer feedback into actionable insights.

They raise the standard. Great people don't just meet expectations; they help everyone see what's possible. They ask better questions, spot potential issues before they become problems, and help teams think more clearly about tradeoffs.

The wrong people create misalignment

Just as the right people can accelerate alignment, the wrong people can destroy it. You know you have alignment problems when people are:

• Making decisions in silos without considering broader impact

• Communicating conclusions without sharing their reasoning

• Optimizing for their function at the expense of overall success

• Creating information bottlenecks by holding context they should be sharing

• Focusing on being right rather than getting to the right answer

These behaviors are contagious. One person who plays politics or hoards information can undermine an entire team's ability to stay aligned. This is why hiring and performance decisions are some of the most important alignment choices you can make.

Getting the right people at the right time

Timing matters as much as talent. The person who's perfect for your Series A might not be right for your Series C. The skills that got you to product-market fit might not be the skills that will help you scale.

Steve Jobs understood this intuitively. After returning to Apple in 1997, he didn't just focus on products—he obsessed over building what he called "the top 100 people at Apple" and held annual retreats with "the Apple employees he felt were the smartest." He knew that having the right people in place was prerequisite to everything else Apple wanted to achieve.

The key is being honest about what your organization needs at each stage and being willing to make changes when people's strengths no longer match your challenges. This doesn't mean constantly churning through people; it means being intentional about roles, responsibilities, and growth paths.

What your talent strategy should look like

Building a people-first approach requires being deliberate about how you hire, develop, and organize your team:

Hire for judgment, train for skills. Technical skills can be learned; good judgment and communication abilities are much harder to develop. Look for people who ask thoughtful questions, can explain complex ideas simply, and demonstrate they care about outcomes beyond their immediate responsibilities.

Create space for people to grow. The best people want to be challenged and developed. Make sure you're giving them opportunities to expand their impact and learn new skills. When people are growing, they're more likely to stay engaged and help others grow too.

Make collaboration rewarding. Structure incentives and recognition around team outcomes, not just individual contributions. The people who help others succeed should be the ones who get promoted and rewarded.

Be willing to make hard decisions. When someone isn't working out, address it quickly. Keeping the wrong people in place sends a signal about what you actually value, regardless of what you say your values are.

Build for people first

At the end of the day, alignment is about humans working together effectively. You can have the most elegant processes in the world, but if people don't trust each other or don't understand what they're trying to achieve together, those processes won't matter.

People interpret the information that flows through your systems. People make the decisions that determine priorities. People have the conversations that turn strategy into action. Get the people part right, and everything else becomes possible. Get it wrong, and nothing else matters.

The most aligned companies aren't the ones with the best tools or the most sophisticated processes. They're the ones where great people are empowered to do their best work together.