Seth Godin, author of The Dip, recently wrote a blog post entitled, "The 90/10 rule of marketing a job." He writes, "It only takes 10% as much effort to hire someone in the bottom 90% of the class. And it takes the other 90% to find and cajole and retain the top 10%." He asks why companies looking for the top 10% don't invest the resources necessary to attract and develop them.

I have my own personal theory on this matter. First, most hiring managers lack the patience and discipline to implement strategies that attract "A Players." Second, they don't invest adequate money in marketing positions because they can't quantify an immediate ROI. Third, they really don't believe they can attract "A Players," so they don't even try. And, lastly, they are afraid to manage people better than themselves.

What to do you believe holds back hiring managers from hiring A Players?