An Insight From Michael Dermer
The 5 and 7 Rule
Do you know why your company can still fail, even with a great strategy, a strong product, powerful AI and several excellent people?
Because if you have fives anywhere in your company, you will fail. A five is not simply someone junior or in the wrong seat — a five is someone performing at a five against the responsibilities of their own role. This is not about job level. It’s about whether the work consistently meets the standard the company needs.
What a Five Actually Is — vs. a Seven
A company is an interconnected system. Every person’s work becomes someone else’s input. Put a five anywhere in that chain and the weakness travels — it does not stay isolated inside one job.
May be loyal, hard-working and well-intentioned — but needs constant supervision. Their work is inconsistent, they wait for instructions, miss problems they should anticipate, and force other people to rescue the result.
Usually doesn’t have a coaching problem. They have a capability, judgment, or ownership problem. More meetings, more reminders, and better software don’t fix it — and moving them to another department just moves the failure with them.
May not know everything yet, but understands what their role owns. They learn, anticipate obstacles, make decisions, and accept accountability — they don’t merely complete a task, they own the result.
Has the raw material for growth. Give them clearer expectations, stronger tools, experience, honest feedback and the right support, and they become an eight or a nine.
“Having a five anywhere in your company is like driving a car with three tires. You can press the gas harder, add better fuel, improve the engine — none of it matters, because the car still has only three tires.”
AI makes this even more obvious: it can make capable people dramatically smarter, faster, and cheaper — but giving AI to someone who lacks judgment and ownership doesn’t solve the underlying problem. Better gas does not fix the missing tire.
The Hidden Cost
One five can turn several sevens into sixes, because so much of their energy is spent compensating.
Every person downstream loses time. Stronger teammates compensate for mistakes, weak decisions and missed handoffs. Managers supervise work that should already be reliable. Customers experience inconsistency. And the best people begin wondering why standards do not apply equally to everyone.
Signs You Have a Five
- They repeatedly need rescue
- The same problems return after feedback
- Other people quietly work around them
- Every handoff from them requires checking, correction, or apology
Before You Decide Someone Is a Five
Make sure you’ve done your job as a leader first — people cannot own outcomes that were never made clear.
- Have you defined their outcome clearly?
- Have you established the standards for their role?
- Have you provided the necessary tools, authority and information?
- Have you given direct feedback and a reasonable opportunity to improve?
If not, the problem may be leadership rather than talent. But once the role is clear and the pattern still holds, leadership requires a decision — direct, fair and humane. Avoiding it is not kindness. It is unfair to the company, unfair to the stronger teammates who keep compensating, and ultimately unfair to the person being asked to perform where they cannot succeed.
“You cannot accelerate a car with three tires by pressing the gas harder, and you cannot build a successful company while allowing fives anywhere inside it.”
The goal is not a company full of perfect tens — that’s unrealistic and unnecessary. The goal is a coordinated team of sevens with complementary strengths, clear ownership, and shared standards, growing into eights and nines together. Develop your sevens. Get every five out of the company.
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