GWC: The Most Underestimated Framework for Building a Talent-Dense, AI-Enabled Company

In the race to build high-performance, AI-enabled companies, the quality of your team remains the single most important variable. Technology can multiply the output of your people, but it can’t fix the wrong people in the wrong roles. 

That’s why one of the most transformative tools I continue to use with CEOs is the GWC framework: a concept originally popularised in EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) and one I’ve refined across dozens of scaling companies.

At its core, GWC stands for “Gets it, Wants it and has the Capacity to do it”. It’s a deceptively simple test that helps CEOs assess whether someone is truly the right person in the right seat, whether you’re hiring fresh talent or evaluating your existing leadership team.

Let’s break it down.

Gets It

“Gets it” is about understanding the essence of the role and how it fits within the wider system of the business. It’s not about intelligence alone, it’s about contextual intelligence. The best people see the big picture, understand interdependencies and can anticipate what’s needed before being told. When someone doesn’t “get it,” it’s often not a matter of incompetence but of misalignment in shared understanding, what in the last article I wrote, Steven Pinker calls “common knowledge.” The CEO assumes clarity exists, but the person’s mental model of the business and the role simply differs.

In that article I referenced working with a CEO who was deeply frustrated with a senior leader’s lack of follow-through. Tasks weren’t being executed as expected and the CEO assumed it was a “won’t do” problem. In reality, it was a “doesn’t get it” issue, the leader was operating from a completely different understanding of priorities and success measures. Once that shared understanding was built, performance shifted almost overnight.

As a CEO, your role is to test for this clarity: Do they really get what great looks like in this seat? Do they understand my expectations of them in this role? Do they understand how success here drives the system forward?

Wants It

“Wants it” is about intrinsic motivation, the fire that makes someone choose to lean in.

It’s easy to overlook, especially in scaling environments where capability can disguise a lack of genuine drive. But when someone doesn’t want the role whether because they’ve outgrown it, burned out or simply aren’t energized by its core demands, you’ll feel it in every missed deadline, every hesitant decision, every lack of ownership.

Great leaders self-motivate. They don’t just comply with expectations; they’re compelled by purpose. In a world where AI automates more of the mechanical work, “Wants it” has never mattered more. Energy, curiosity and personal ambition are what keep your company adaptive and alive.

You can test for “Wants it” in the following way:

Ask the person to walk you through their typical week. Listen carefully and then ask:

• “Which parts of your week give you energy?”

• “Which parts drain you?”

• “If you could redesign your role from scratch, what would you do more of and what would you drop?”

Finally, ask:

• “If this company were to double in size tomorrow, would you be excited or anxious about your role?”

What to look for:

• If their energy consistently points away from the core of the role, that’s a red flag.

• People who want it light up when talking about their work, challenges, and growth potential.

• People who don’t talk about relief, frustration, or feeling “obligated.”

Capacity to Do It

Capacity is where reality meets aspiration. It’s about whether someone has the skill, experience and mental bandwidth to perform at the required level. As your company scales, people capacity is the dimension that changes fastest. The person who was brilliant at running a small 3 person team might lack the systems thinking or emotional resilience to run a 10-person one.

Testing for capacity requires radical honesty from both sides. Does this person actually have the space and skill to succeed here today, not just yesterday? And if not, what’s the development or structural path to help them get there?

In my experience it’s really common for CEO’s to keep talented but capacity stretched leaders in seat far too long, often out of loyalty. The result? Compromised execution and burnout on both sides. The most humane move is sometimes the hardest: help them find the right seat elsewhere, even if it’s not inside your company.

A great test you can use is as follows: Describe a realistic scenario where the company is operating at 2× today’s scale, same role, bigger stakes Then ask the employee: “Given that scenario, what would break first in your world?” Listen carefully to their answer and then follow up with 3 key questions: 

• “What systems or people would you need to put in place?”

• “What new skills or habits would you need personally to still thrive?”

• “What would you stop doing to make space for that?”

The responses will tell you all you need to know about how agile and creative they are.

Using GWC in the Hiring Process

GWC isn’t just a diagnostic tool,  it’s a powerful hiring filter. When you build it into your interview process, you dramatically increase your chances of hiring people who can scale with the company.

Here’s how:

• Gets It: Ask candidates to describe how their role fits into a business ecosystem. Probe for systems thinking. Do they understand how different functions interlock, or do they see their work in isolation? Despite the fact that that they have limited data about your company at this stage, do they have an instinctive “gut feel” for what the role demands and what your expectations of the role are.

• Wants It: Look for language of energy and ownership. Do they talk about challenges with excitement or obligation? Ask: “What kind of work drains you?” and “What kind of challenges do you find irresistible?” Their answers will reveal intrinsic motivation.

• Capacity: Be realistic and specific. Test their ability to handle the scale and complexity your company operates at today and in the future, not the version that existed a year ago. Ask about recent situations where they were stretched to their limits and how they adapted.

Most CEOs hire for résumé/CV, past performance rather than GWC. But what truly predicts success in a scaling environment is fit with the seat and fit with the velocity.

From Good to Great: The Right Person, Right Seat

One of my all time favourite books is Jim Collins’ book “Good to Great". Jim gives us the enduring metaphor: get the right people on the bus and in the right seats. GWC is how you operationalize that philosophy a practical, day-to-day tool for evaluating fit and alignment. When you apply it rigorously, conversations about performance become objective, not emotional. It’s no longer about vague notions of “good enough.” It’s a clear, repeatable framework that removes bias and anchors everyone in the same language of excellence.

Why GWC Matters More in the AI Era

In an AI-enabled company, the cost of low alignment compounds exponentially. Automation amplifies what your team puts into it - clarity, precision, or confusion. In this new world, talent density is everything. Every role matters more because every person is now working with leverage.

GWC is how you protect and scale that leverage. It ensures every leader, every contributor, operates at their point of highest impact and that your team evolves in sync with the company’s growth curve.

Your CEO Call to Action

Start with your leadership team.

Draw a simple table and write down the initials of every direct report. Then, for each person, ask yourself honestly:

• Do they get it?

• Do they want it?

• Do they have the capacity to do it?

You’ll instantly know where the issues lie. Then, use that clarity as a coaching tool, a foundation for either realignment, development, or difficult decisions. The discipline of GWC isn’t just about running a better organization, it’s about protecting your time, energy and strategic focus as a CEO.

In the AI era, that discipline is your edge.

Image Credit: Pixabay