A Jerry Macnamara term
Changers and destroyers: what is the one-to-ten rule?
Changers and destroyers are the two kinds of people in every organization, the ones who fill the room and the ones who drain it, and the one-to-ten rule is the math behind them: one destroyer costs you ten good people.
Where it comes from
Culture isn’t only about what you build. It’s about what you refuse to allow. Every organization I’ve ever worked with has both kinds of people, and the brutal math has held everywhere I’ve seen it: one destroyer costs you ten good people.
I put it to a room of coaches at the Jacksonville Football Club Coaches Symposium keynote on August 8, 2026, this way: one coach who badmouths another coach, one sideline that mocks a referee in front of children, one adult who treats the club like a hotel instead of a home. That behavior doesn’t stay contained. It teaches. And a family that won’t protect its standards isn’t a family. It’s a carpool.
How to use it
Count. Most leaders tolerate a destroyer because the destroyer produces: the top salesperson, the one engineer who knows the legacy system. Run the math honestly. What does that person cost you in the ten people around them? The ones who stopped speaking up in meetings. The one who quit last quarter without saying why. The three who watched you tolerate it and learned that the standard is negotiable.
The business translation: whatever you let slide, you just taught. Your tolerance is the curriculum. So back the team. Solve problems inside the house. Hold each other to it, because the standard you don’t enforce isn’t a standard.
And be honest about the changers. They’re usually quieter than the destroyers, so they get less of your attention. Find them, name what they do out loud, and protect them.
Questions people ask
How do I tell a destroyer from someone having a hard quarter?
Direction. A destroyer drains the room on repeat, and the people around them change their behavior to cope. Someone who’s struggling still pulls for the team. Look at what the ten people around them are doing, not just at the person.
Is one-to-ten a real number?
It’s the math I’ve watched play out in every organization I’ve led or advised. Count what it cost you the last time you kept a destroyer too long: the meetings that went quiet, the resignations you couldn’t explain. Ten is a floor.
What do I do about a destroyer who’s a top performer?
Have the honest conversation once, with a clear standard. If the behavior changes, great. If it doesn’t, the performance isn’t worth ten people. Solve it inside the house, and don’t wait for the tenth person to leave.
I teach changers and destroyers, and the four pillars of trust that keep a culture worth protecting, on stage in Creating a Culture of Accountability. If your team or your conference needs to hear it, start at speaking.