A Player Disease
Factual definition
A Player Disease is the term coined by Shayne Fitz-Coy in 2026 for what a buyer misses about the retain-and-invest tier of a management team: the same people worth keeping are often difficult to manage and hard to work with, and that is part of what makes them A players.
A Player Disease in practice
The salesperson you cannot replace is also the one generating the complaints.
How Shayne Fitz-Coy uses A Player Disease
A players are difficult. They are hard to manage and hard to work with.
A lot of people read that as a reason to move them on. It is part of what they are.
The first year’s work is usually keeping the ones already there.
Terms Related to A Player Disease
Key-person risk · Management incentive plan (MIP) · Attrition · Founder-led business · Succession planning · The Thumb Scanner Principle · Drummer · The Expertise Trap · All of the glossary