09/11/2026
Why high performers quit: they are 3x more likely to leave when they feel unrecognized. That is the leadership rhythm most retention plans skip.
Not underpaid. Unrecognized. Today's clip sits right on that distinction.
Here is why the number is so stubborn. Your high potentials need the least managing, so they get the least. The squeaky wheel gets the 1:1. The reliable one gets a thumbs-up in a group chat. Eighteen months later you are surprised.
Run this check this week.
List your top five. From memory, write the last specific thing you told each of them they did well. Cannot recall it? Neither can they.
Count their last four 1:1s. How many got moved or cut? Reliable people are the easiest to reschedule, which is exactly the problem.
Ask what they want to be doing in two years, then ask whether anyone here can help them get there.
Find one piece of work above their current level this quarter and hand it over before they ask.
Recognition is not a compliment. It is evidence you were paying attention.
Save this for your next 1:1, and send it to a leader who is about to lose someone.
Who on your team has not heard anything specific from you this month?
Onward and Upward 🚀
See the whole episode on YouTube