Why “glue guys” beat “superstars”: A Canadian HR take

By George Waggott, founder and Roberto Fonseca-Velazquez, law student

George Waggott Law

On November 17, 2025, Jon Levy, a behavioural scientist and author, argued in Fortune that many employers make a costly mistake by over-investing in “superstar” hires. Instead, he says, what teams really need are “glue players”: people who hold teams together, enable collaboration and make everyone around them perform better.

This insight is especially relevant to Canadian employers, and particularly resonant for those responsible for hiring and retention strategies. From a legal and organizational risk perspective, the “glue-guy” approach often yields more sustainable results than repeatedly chasing high-visibility top talent.

The problem with superstar hires

Levy identifies a “too much talent” problem: when a team becomes more than half composed of ambitious, high-potential “superstars,” performance suffers (not rises) because individual egos and self-interest start to clash.

From a legal/HR practitioner’s point of view, that manifests in several ways:

• Increased conflict risk: Superstars often jockey for recognition, promotions, or control. Over time, that can lead to disputes, grievances, or even attrition, all of which carry legal and reputational costs.

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• Disruption of institutional knowledge and team cohesion: When teams are constantly re-staffed with “the next unicorn,” you lose continuity, shared practices, and a stable working culture.

  
  

• Inequitable expectations and burnout: Superstars tend to be asked (explicitly or implicitly) to over-deliver. That can create resentment among other team members, potential human rights or fairness concerns, and ultimately burnout or turnover among the very people you depended on.

  
  

In short: the superstar strategy may promise short-term gains but often substitutes long-term stability with risk.

Why glue-players (or “culture-fit / culture-add” hires) make sense

Levy’s argument aligns with emerging evidence, and Canadian best-practice thinking from a legal and HR standpoint. This view emphasizes team fit, human elements, and long-term stability over flashy résumés.

• The Talent Cloud initiative, a Canadian federal hiring experiment, embeds what they call a “five-factor match” model. Rather than assessing only a candidate’s skills and the job requirements, it also considers the manager, the team’s culture, and the work environment. The goal: not just a match on paper, but a match in human dynamics.

  
  

• Similarly, one Canadian HR-industry commentary has warned of the risks when hiring is rushed or overly transactional, especially when “cultural contribution” is oversimplified as “hire someone similar to us.”

  
  

• Firms like Chemistry Consulting Group report shifting toward skills-first, inclusive hiring that values adaptability and diversity over pedigree or traditional credentials — a response to both labour shortages and changing expectations among workers.

  
  

For Canadian employers — where workforce diversity, inclusion and retention are often central strategic goals: glue-players offer a path to build more stable, inclusive, and high-functioning teams.

View from the Desk: what to watch out for

There are far too many cases where over-hyped “top talents” quickly became a source of disputes: from inequitable workloads and burnouts to conflict with colleagues, inconsistent documentation of performance, and claims of unfair treatment. By contrast, glue-players tend to deliver predictable, consistent performance, which is exactly what risk-conscious employers should prefer.

When hiring “glue-players,” employers should still document their decision-making carefully. Use structured interview protocols: map core competencies, team-fit criteria, and long-term potential. Avoid vague “culture-fit” rationales; instead, define what the company values, such as collaboration, psychological safety, diversity. Also be sure to  assess whether the candidate demonstrably contributes to them. This more objective, human-centered process reduces the risk of unconscious bias and makes decisions more defensible in the face of claims of discrimination or unfair hiring practices.

Practical guidance for Canadian HR professionals

1. Rethink your hiring “ideal.” Rather than prioritizing the “top technical performer,” consider who will contribute to team cohesion, support colleagues, and sustain culture.

   
   

2. Use structured criteria beyond résumé. Frame job ads and interview guides to include fit with team culture, behavioural competencies, adaptability, and growth potential. The focus should not just be on prior achievements.

   
   

3. Be careful with “culture fit.” As experts in Canadian HR have written, unstructured culture-fit evaluations can lead to homogeneity, biases, and inequity. It is thus better to aim for “culture add”, meaning the search is for people who bring new perspectives while aligning on core values.

   
   

4. Document your process. When hiring, record why a candidate was chosen, including which combination of skills, values, and team fit were valued, so as to provide transparency and mitigate legal risks if decisions are challenged.

   
   

5. Make glue-players part of succession and retention plans. Glue-players often deliver durability. Investing in such hires can pay dividends for institutional memory and long-term team performance.

   
   

Conclusion: Stability over flash

The allure of “superstar” hires, being the high-flying, ambitious, CV-heavy types, has always been strong. But as the recent analysis by Jon Levy shows, piling too many of them into one team may do more harm than good. For Canadian employers, especially those battling labour shortages, shifting demographics, and heightened expectations around equity and retention, selecting glue-players, being team-oriented individuals who foster cohesion, reliability and steady performance, may well be the wiser long-term strategy.

Organizations should strive to build a recruitment framework that values connection, continuity, and culture. Those in senior HR and leadership positions may find that the quiet, steady glue-players which they hire today are the ones holding their teams and organizations together tomorrow.

For more information about George Waggott Law, please see: www.georgewaggott.com, or contact: george@georgewaggott.com