![]() He wanted to be treated like an individual. Giles didn’t want to be treated like a member of a group-even if it was the exalted Monitor GAMs. What was his problem? Then it dawned on me. He had asked for something, and I had given it to him without quibbling or conditions. He said, “OK” and walked off, looking sullen. At your level you can do pretty much whatever you want. He approached me to ask for paternity leave for his first child, now a fairly standard request but a bit more unusual back then. Thirty years ago, when I was co-running the strategy consulting boutique Monitor Group, Giles was one of a dozen or so most senior members of the firm-what we called global account managers (GAMs)-and a rising star among them. As I will show in this article, when it comes to managing star employees, the secret to success is making them feel like valued individuals-not like members of a group, no matter how elite. And that brings me to something managers need to know: Feeling special is more important to talent than compensation is. I can say with confidence that in my 40 years of working with people who truly are in the upper echelon of talent, I haven’t met a single one who is solely or even highly motivated by compensation. None of those me-first people have the ability or the motivation to make their organizations or teams great for a sustained period. Yet that’s not whom I’m talking about here. I’ve met plenty of CEOs who pump up the perceived value of their companies to inflate their stock-based compensation activist hedge-fund managers who destroy companies for short-term gain investment bankers who, in the pursuit of big fees, persuade their clients to make unwise acquisitions and consultants who sell their clients work that they don’t need. Such eye-popping numbers have given rise to the belief that star performers are deeply motivated by compensation and that big monetary rewards are key to their recruitment and retention. Eric Schmidt’s $24 billion net worth came from taking the reins of Google for a decade, and Meg Whitman’s $5 billion from serving as eBay’s CEO for 10 years. ![]() And while the earnings of talent in many domains have skyrocketed over the past four decades, nothing has matched topflight managers’ ability to extract value: Steve Ballmer made the vast majority of his $96 billion fortune by being Bill Gates’s first business manager. At the same time, technology and innovation have modernized the capital markets, making funding much easier to get and further shifting power from capital to talent. If a hedge fund loses its investment guru, it will need to alter its approach to investing.Īs the knowledge economy has taken over the business world, people with rare expertise and skills have become powerful-be they corporate executives, research scientists, money managers, artists, athletes, or celebrities. If a pharmaceutical company loses its star scientist, it will have to change its research program. The Green Bay Packers can play football without quarterback Aaron Rodgers-but they will have to run a different offense. A film studio can make a movie with or without Julia Roberts, but it won’t be the same movie. Over the past several decades managers have had to adapt to a stark reality: Individuals with unique talent can profoundly affect the value-and even the nature-of the work their organizations produce. If they don’t get recognition, they will drift away or become resentful. Never pass up the chance to praise them.Įxtraordinary people spend all their time doing hard things. But if they feel their way forward has been barred, they’ll take their skills to an organization they think will clear a path for them. Never block their development.Įnabling stars to keep growing will win their loyalty. The videoconferencing provider Webex made this mistake too it gave no traction to a proposal for a phone-friendly platform made by star exec Eric Yuan, who got frustrated and left to start megarival Zoom. The Green Bay Packers learned this the hard way when they had a falling out with Aaron Rodgers because he wasn’t given a voice in decisions affecting his ability to lead his team to victory. To do that, respect these three never-dos: Never dismiss their ideas. ![]() ![]() ![]() You must treat stars like valued individuals, not like members of a group, even an elite one. Feeling special is far more important to them. But truly talented people aren’t highly motivated by money. Many managers believe that compensation is the key (as the eye-popping rewards paid to employees in the upper echelon show). In today’s knowledge economy, employees with unique skills have a profound impact on organizations. ![]()
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