Picture this: your company is a rocket ship. You’ve got this brilliant engineer – let’s call her Sarah – who knows every bolt, every line of code. Without her, that rocket doesn’t launch. Now… what happens if Sarah decides she’d rather build submarines?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most growing companies are being held hostage. Not by competitors. Not by markets. By their own best people.
We all love our star employees. They’re the ones who fix disasters at midnight. Who charm angry clients. Who “just get things done”. But here’s the twist: the better they are, the more dangerous they become.
Why?
- The “Magic Button” Trap: If your entire sales pipeline vanishes when Dave quits, you haven’t built a sales machine – you’ve built a Dave-shaped button.
- The Loyalty Paradox: The more irreplaceable someone feels, the more likely they are to (a) burn out or (b) start making demands.
- The Copycat Effect: When new hires see stars breaking rules without consequences, suddenly everyone’s “optimising expenses”… creatively.
This isn’t about blaming Dave or Sarah. This is about recognising we’ve built organisations where heroism is rewarded more than teamwork.
Let’s play a quick mind game. I show you two job ads:
- “Join a team where you’ll be the superstar!”
- “Join a team where you’ll help build something lasting.”
Which attracts better talent? Trick question. The first gets applicants; the second builds legacies.
We promote heroes because:
- It’s satisfying (solving crises feels productive)
- It’s visible (fixing a broken client is drama; preventing breakages is boring)
- It’s addictive (that rush of “I saved the day!”)
But like any addiction, the highs get shorter. The crashes get worse.
Escaping hostage mode isn’t about firing stars – it’s about making them teachers, not saviours.
Three stealthy fixes:
- The “Boring Bonus”
Reward people for making their job redundant. Paid time to document processes. Promotions for cross-training successors. Boring? Yes. Powerful? Absolutely. - The “Mistake Museum”
Celebrate systems failures like artefacts. That client disaster? Frame the post-mortem as Exhibit A. When learning from errors becomes ritual, heroics become optional. - The “Values Veto”
Let teams challenge any decision that “works” but feels wrong. “Sure, Dave hit targets by bullying suppliers… but does that smell like our company?”
True scalability isn’t about size – it’s about staying recognisably yourself as you grow.
When your newest intern can explain why we don’t just “let Sarah handle it”…
When a departing star leaves behind playbooks, not panic…
When your culture becomes your best recruiter…
That’s when you’ve built something that outlives any individual.
The question isn’t “Do you have hostage-takers?”. It’s “What will you build that’s worth their loyalty?”