Brad Jacobs on identifying A players: "I do a mental exercise where I picture the person coming into my office and saying, 'Brad, I quit.' And then I try to feel and visualize what would be my reaction if that person came in to me and quit. If my reaction to that is, 'Yes! I don't want to smile, so I don't want to act like I'm happy about this. Nobody likes firing people. No problem at all, we'll replace them'—that's a C player. That's someone you should get the courage to get off the team right away. On the second category, if my reaction to it is, 'You know, it kind of sucks. I would've preferred that person stayed, but it's not the end of the world. We'll hire a headhunter. We'll get someone as good, maybe someone even better, and things will work out'—that's a B player. But if when I visualize that person quitting, my reaction to that is pure terror and absolute panic, and like somebody took a baseball bat and just whacked me in the stomach and then punched me in the face. I'm going, 'Oh my God! Like I'm never going to find someone as good as her. No way. I'm never going to have someone as talented as that person. I'm never going to have someone who brings to the table their particular superpower.' And I can't even hear what they're saying anymore because I'm just having this internal panic dialogue going on—that's what you call an A player. So I want all A players around me. I want people whose relationship with me I value so much that if it was terminated, I would be lost."

Here's my conversation with Brad Jacobs, chairman and CEO of QXO, founder of eight separate billion-dollar companies including XPO Logistics, United Rentals and United Waste. (0:00) Introduction and Setting the Tone (0:31) Mentorship and Key Lessons from Ludwig Jesselson (2:41) Embracing Problems as Opportunities (6:07) The Importance of Recruiting Top Talent (7:58) Maintaining Long-Term Reputation (10:14) Finding Context and Centering (19:50) Perfectionism and Cognitive Therapy (26:29) Building Billion-Dollar Companies (36:50) The Role of A Players in Success (42:27) The Power of People in Business (44:23) The Importance of Superior Intelligence (45:54) Balancing Work and Life (48:11) The Role of Passion in Success (51:59) Effective Leadership and Meetings (1:05:41) Feedback Loops and Continuous Improvement (1:16:29) Public vs. Private Companies (1:22:55) The Drive for Stress and Passion (1:23:16) Learning from Other Entrepreneurs (1:23:41) Fred Smith's Legacy and Influence (1:29:19) The Importance of Technology in Business (1:40:25) Time Management and CEO Responsibilities (1:54:34) The Power of Incentives (2:01:04) Going All In: Final Thoughts Includes paid partnerships.