Private Equity’s ‘Talent Hoarding’ Creates Expensive Museums, According to Lee McCabe

In a recent LinkedIn post, Lee McCabe discusses what he describes as a new, quietly competitive sport in the private equity world: talent hoarding. McCabe, writing on the professional networking platform, argues that many firms are accumulating various types of partners – such as Operating Partners, Senior Advisors, Venture Partners, and EIRs – without a clear strategy for deploying their expertise effectively.

The Illusion of Capability

McCabe highlights how these titles are often handed out to create an image of extensive capability, which can be appealing to Limited Partners (LPs). He notes the superficial appeal of these hires:

“Every firm now appears to be stockpiling operators the way children collected Pokémon cards. Operating Partners, Senior Advisors, Venture Partners, EIRs—hand out a title, add them to a slide, declare victory. LPs love the imagery. It signals “capability.” It looks sophisticated. It gives the impression of a tightly coordinated machine humming in the background.”

However, the reality within many firms, according to McCabe, is far from this sophisticated image. He points out that a significant number of these highly skilled individuals may be underutilized or their roles may overlap considerably, leading to redundancy.

Performative Readiness and Coordination Costs

The core of McCabe’s critique is that this practice often amounts to what he terms “performative capability building” or “the theatre of readiness.” He questions the effectiveness of simply increasing headcount without a robust deployment system.

As Lee McCabe argues:

“The reality inside most firms is slightly less heroic. Plenty of these talented people sit idle. Others overlap so heavily their bios are virtually indistinguishable. A few are used as last-minute pitch props. And in far too many cases, no one has built an actual system to deploy them: no resourcing model, no operating cadence, no clarity on which operator is meant to do what across the portfolio.”

McCabe elaborates on the negative consequences, suggesting that merely hiring more partners doesn’t multiply capability. Instead, it often increases the complexity of coordination.

The Hidden Costs of Overlapping Roles

According to McCabe, the addition of “political friction, inconsistent incentives, and a complete absence of shared tools or workflows” can ultimately make the firm slower rather than stronger. He suggests that the focus on accumulating titles and the associated imagery overshadows the practical challenges of integrating and utilizing these individuals effectively.

Focusing on Utilization, Not Headcount

In contrast to this approach, McCabe identifies the characteristics of funds that genuinely benefit from operators. These successful firms, he writes, prioritize practical metrics over sheer numbers.

Lee McCabe points out:

“The funds that genuinely extract value from operators don’t focus on headcount. They focus on utilisation, rhythm, and structure. They treat operators like a portfolio asset, not a decorative slide. They know exactly who gets deployed, why, when, and how. And they measure it.”

McCabe concludes that firms not adopting this structured approach are essentially “running a very expensive talent museum,” implying a missed opportunity for real value creation. The emphasis, he stresses, should be on strategic deployment and measurable impact, not just the appearance of having a large, capable team.