In February 1974, after eighteen months of dropping out of college, Steve Jobs decided to look for a job. One day, as he searched the papers, he came across a job advert that caught his eye. It was a technician job opportunity at a video game manufacturing company named Atari. His Biographer, Walter Isaacson, wrote that, on that same day, Steve Jobs, wearing sandals, walked into the lobby of Atari and told the personnel director, who was startled by his unkempt hair and attire, that he wanted the job and that he wouldn’t leave until they hired him.

Surprisingly, he got the job after a brief interaction with the company’s chief engineer who described him as “very intelligent, enthusiastic, [and] excited about tech”.  He was later assigned to work with an engineer named Don Lang.

The next day Lang furiously complained to their boss: “This guy’s a goddamn hippie. Why did you do this to me? And he’s impossible to deal with”. At the time, Steve Jobs had clung to the belief that his fruit-heavy vegetarian diet would prevent not just mucus but also body odor, even if he didn’t use deodorant or shower regularly. It turned out to be a flawed theory!

Lang and others wanted Jobs out, but their boss worked out a solution. “The smell and behavior weren’t an issue with me,” the boss said. “Steve was prickly, but I kind of liked him. So, I asked him to go on the night shift. It was a way to save him.” Jobs would come in after Lang and others had left and work through most of the night.

Even though isolated, Jobs became known for his brashness. On those occasions when he happened to interact with others, he was prone to informing them that they were ‘dumb’. “The only reason I shone was that everyone else was so bad”, Steve Jobs recalled.

Of course, as we all know, Steve Jobs went on to co-found Apple and in the process, he revolutionized the world of computers, music, movies, and phones. Steve Jobs died in 2011 but to this day, he is still considered to be one of the greatest (and most controversial) visionary business leaders of our generation.

Highly talented people such as Steve Jobs, are a rare breed and in today’s swiftly evolving corporate landscape, organizations world-over are on the look-out for them. These individuals can form the bedrock of any business’s prosperity and ultimately drive organisational success. However, if not well managed, they could as well bring the organization to its knees.

This article dives deep into understanding the good, the bad and the ugly, of hiring highly talented people, while analyzing the key related risks, the significance of attracting and retaining them, and the strategies to motivate them.

The Good

With highly talented individuals on board, organizations can navigate through the rough tides of the market, embracing innovation and stimulating growth. And with their remarkable productivity and creativity, they can transform organizations from mediocre to outstanding.

These unique individuals can see possibilities where others see challenges and are not afraid to tread the path less travelled. Their inherent curiosity usually drives them to question the status quo and seek better ways of doing things.

Motivated by the thrill of winning, their meaningful questions, varied opinions and disagreements, can force peers and leaders into challenging assumptions. At the end of the day, these ‘misfits/rebels’, can literally make everyone better and push their organizations forward.

The Bad and the Ugly

Sometimes, stars can actually kill an organization. This could happen when individuals exceptionally deliver on their bottom-line goals, but because of arrogance and big egos, they fail to work with others, while abusing organizational rules. I like to refer to these individuals as “brilliant jerks”.

A star’s ego can be a dangerous thing. I have seen many talented people letting their ambitions spin out of control. I have seen terrific accountants, bankers, and lawyers get told one too many times that they are irreplaceable, and they start swaggering around to the point that their teams resent them. I have also seen smart and capable individuals come to believe that they are so indispensable that they should not be bound by anything, including the company’s policies and procedures.

In other situations, the high achievers tend to want to volunteer for more responsibilities, beyond their stated job descriptions. They take on more work from their supervisors than they are capable of executing, thus end up not delivering. There’s nothing heroic or commendable about taking on too much and then fail to deliver on it.

Also, in my experience, I have observed that small and medium-size organizations – which make up the greater portion of corporate Uganda – often struggle to attract and retain highly talented people due to their limited remuneration packages. These stars usually want to be rewarded for their great performance. Plaques and public recognition have their place. But without money, they will easily leave, and the organization will have to go through the costly, time-consuming hiring process to find their replacements.

Lessons for Managers and Leaders

Firstly, it’s critically important that managers and leaders foster a work environment that can attract and retain highly talented people. I am particularly referring to an environment where people can effectively work together, be well motivated, and grown into leaders.

The organization chart should be as flat as possible, with blindingly clear reporting relationships and responsibilities. If you want to manage highly talented people effectively, help them by making sure that the organization chart leaves as little as possible to imagination. It should paint a crystal-clear picture of reporting relationships and make it patently obvious who is responsible for what results.

The organization must tightly align great performance with rewards. The better people perform, the more they should be rewarded. There is hardly anything more frustrating than working hard, meeting or exceeding expectations, and discovering that it doesn’t matter to your organization. Even the Nobel prizes come with cash awards!

In addition, to effectively manage highly talented people, the organization must perform routine, candid performance evaluations. Great performance must be praised while bad behavior must be condemned, and where change fails, the culprits should be shown the door no matter how talented they are.

But when all is being said and done, one irrefutable fact remains: the benefits of hiring highly talented people greatly outweigh those of hiring mediocre ones!

Brian B. Mukalazi

Chief Executive Officer, Talis Consults Ltd