Great expectations - the curse of top talent?

Even when organisations invest heavily in people's development, high-achieving individuals can still lose purpose and experience burn out. When these 'top performers' are groomed as future leaders, they often feel trapped by others' expectations and fixate on proving themselves worthy. Breaking the talent curse isn't just a one-off process, it needs to be repeated as high-potential individuals develop and take on new challenges. But, what are the common warning signs and how can this talent curse be broken?

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Reviewed by

Rachel Suff, Public Policy Adviser, Employment Relations

Rachel Suff joined the CIPD as a policy adviser in 2014 to increase the CIPD’s public policy profile and engage with politicians, civil servants, policy-makers and commentators to champion better work and working lives. An important part of her role is to ensure that the views of the profession inform CIPD policy thinking on issues such as health and well-being, employee engagement and employment relations. As well as conducting research on UK employment issues, she helps guide the CIPD’s thinking in relation to European developments affecting the world of work. Rachel’s prior roles include working as a researcher for XpertHR and as a senior policy adviser at Acas.

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