The High-Performer Paradox: Why Your Top Talent Might Be Stalling Innovation
You’ve invested heavily in recruiting or relocating world-class talent to build a truly innovative team. You’ve brought in the best and they’ve delivered outstanding results, but what if that very success is quietly working against innovation in the longer-term?
New research suggests that for corporate team leaders, the challenge isn’t just finding success, it’s managing extreme success. A study published in Research Policy, conducted by King’s Business School, alongside colleagues at University of Liverpool Management School, University of Hohenheim, Rotterdam School of Management and Erasmus University, has uncovered a surprising “hidden cost” of being too successful at work.
Can you be ‘too successful’ at work? The Success Trap
The core finding is counterintuitive: employees who achieve exceptionally high levels of success are actually less likely to see their next ideas implemented.
The researchers suggest this dip in future contribution stems from a shift in team dynamics and self-perception. Extreme success can lead to inflated self-confidence and perceived social status. Backed up by two additional experiments, the study showed that top achievers were more inclined to work alone, which consequently reduces their willingness to develop ideas collaboratively. In essence, the success that made them valuable also created a barrier of isolation.
This presents a critical challenge for leaders managing diverse, high-value teams—especially those whose operations rely on a constant flow of new ideas. The global war for talent means you must not only attract high performers but also design an environment that sustains their creativity long after they join your organisation.
What does this mean for talent management?
The experts behind the study offer guidance for corporate innovation programmes and talent retention strategies. It’s not enough to simply celebrate a win; leaders must manage the aftermath of highly successful achievement.
Professor Oguz A. Acar, Professor of Marketing & Innovation at King’s Business School, emphasises the organisational responsibility:
“For business schools and corporate innovation programmes, this result is a wake-up call. Top performers must not be isolated, their success can inadvertently become a barrier to collaboration, which in turn undermines long-term innovation.
“What matters is not just that you succeed, but how you succeed. Organisations need to recognise that high achievers may require additional support to stay connected and creative.”
For team leaders, this means rethinking how recognition is structured, particularly in dispersed or cross-functional teams where isolation is already a risk.
What can leaders do to maintain high levels of innovation?
If your goal is to sustain a high-innovation pipeline, particularly through structured employee innovation platforms, the researchers point to two specific challenges you can address: reduced team-based idea development and inflated perceived social status.
Selina L. Lehmann, from the University of Hohenheim, highlights the shift in thinking:
“We previously assumed success is always good for innovation. Our findings challenge that: when someone hits a very high peak, later performance may drop because collaborators disappear and self‐perception changes.
“The mechanisms we identified, reduced team‐based idea development and inflated perceived social status, point to very concrete levers for managers seeking to maintain a high‐innovation pipeline.”
The conclusion is clear: organisations must recognise and reward success but also take active steps to prevent top achievers from becoming isolated. Sustaining innovation depends on keeping high performers embedded in teams, open to collaboration, and aware of how the side-effects of notable success can quietly stall future creativity.
To ensure your investment in global talent pays off for years to come, leaders must focus on how to keep the highest achievers collaborating, not just celebrating their individual accomplishments.
Read the full study, titled Not All Success Is Created Equal: The Innovation Costs of Extreme Success, on the Science Direct website.
