Steven was the “go-to guy.” He knew everything. He knew everyone. He had been at the company longer than most people had been in their careers. If you had a question, Steven had the answer. If he didn’t, he’d figure it out. He was that essential — the kind of person leadership believed the company couldn’t survive without.
But Steven worked alone. Not in the “quietly focused” kind of way, but in the “shut everyone out” kind of way. He was on the engineering team, yet one by one, engineers stopped wanting to work with him. His way of doing things left no room for collaboration, no space for others to grow. When leadership saw the breakdown, they shifted him to the design team, hoping for a fresh start. It didn’t matter. The same walls went up.
Problems Rarely Just Go Away
And then it got worse. Steven didn’t just isolate himself — he started spreading lies. Whispered fabrications about his coworkers and their leaders began to make their way to executive ears. And because Steven had been the hero who helped secure major contracts — the lifeblood of the company — leadership weighed every complaint from others against Steven’s perceived value and decided his intellect outweighed the damage.
Meanwhile, the damage was devastating. Entire teams were demoralized. Good employees dreaded walking in the door. Steven’s fabrications about his coworkers fueled leadership’s frustration with their team’s sub-par performance. Some engineers were ready to quit, as the brunt of leadership’s frustration landed squarely on them. Team leaders tried to speak up. They laid out the risk of losing top talent. They pointed to the growing fracture in the culture.
Because leadership had been poisoned with Steven’s lies, the team leaders’ concerns fell on deaf ears. Steven won again. His “critical knowledge” was deemed more important than trust, teamwork, or truth. The message was loud and clear to every employee: you can poison the culture, tear teams apart, and erode morale — as long as you win contracts.
You Are Not Alone
If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Every organization has a Steven. Your Steven may be the naysayer. He may be arrogant and talk down to others. He may be critical of everyone’s ideas except his own. Nonetheless, much like Steven in this story, your Steven is one of the unleadable, and if left unmanaged, Steven can destroy the fabric of your organization, like he did in this story.
The Way Forward
Too many organizations have experienced the loss of talent and knowledge because of the bad behaviors exhibited by Steven, and others like him. The good news is that mavericks like this can be turned around – they can actually become forces for good. How do we know? We’ve helped leaders transform “Steven” in hundreds of scenarios, including this one, and we can help you, too.
At Exceptional Difference, Leadership Growth Cycle (LGC) is one of our key offerings that provides real-world strategies that help leaders deal with difficult people, like Steven. It is an elite offering for leaders seeking to grow both the breadth and depth of their leadership mindset and toolset. Register here for our next cohort!
Alan Willett’s book, Leading the Unleadable, also provides practical strategies to help you learn how to manage unleadable employees – mavericks, cynics, divas, and other difficult people. But wait, there’s more! By popular demand, Leading the Unleadable: Second Edition is being released in September – with more scenarios, more examples, and more tips and tricks for leaders.
Next Steps
Contact us at info@exceptionaldifference.com or visit www.exceptionaldifference.com to learn more about these offerings and how we can help your team.
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