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How You Might Be Accidentally Building a Team of Star Underperformers

When your best people work hard on the wrong things, it's because you trained them to. Here's how to spot and break this pattern.

Author

Dave Kline
May 08, 2025

Read time: 1 minute

Our Updated Flagship Program Starts May 13

When we started the MGMT Accelerator 3 years ago, we believed it would fill an important gap for leaders, but we weren’t certain. Now we are. 

We have more than 1000 alums who told us their investment is worth 25 times what they paid.

  • The make better decisions.

  • They lead with simple, sustainable systems.

  • They have more confidence leading their teams.

And that was before we added AI prompts and tools to help supercharge their impact.

We cap attendance to keep the coaching intimate and ensure we can deliver on our promise to break through your biggest leadership challenge.

And we don’t teach again until October.

I led a two-day MGMT Accelerator workshop with 25 leaders this week. During a session, the head of their group mentioned people he called "star underperformers."

I love a clever turn of phrase. And I immediately knew who he was talking about.

He was talking about people who pour tremendous energy into doing what seems right but isn't. His example? An analyst generating additional pages of analysis instead of synthesizing a clear recommendation on page one.

And suddenly, I could see them everywhere:

  • The eternal planner robbing action to perfect the strategy

  • The meeting mastermind polishing gatherings that shouldn't even exist

  • The data devotee creating new metrics rather than acting on existing ones

  • The process perfector fixing easy problems while ignoring the real bottleneck

  • The earnest employee silently burning themselves out instead of asking for help

  • The consensus builder hiring the "safe" candidate over the spiky one with outsized strengths

Here's the truth: Being busy isn't the same as being effective.

Star underperformers excel at investing in what's easy and understood versus pouring themselves into what's hard and necessary.

And here's the uncomfortable part: As leaders, we’re probably encouraging this.

  • We praise detailed analysis without demanding clear recommendations.

  • We celebrate thoroughness when we should be pushing for speed.

  • We allow endless planning to masquerade as progress.

  • We reward visible effort over meaningful outcomes.

So ask yourself: Where are you working hard on the wrong things? And where are you rewarding others for doing the same?

Lead on,
Dave

PS - We know it can be a leap of faith to go from a free weekly playbook to investing $2500 with us. Buy down your risk! Check out our small library of free “Lightning Lesson” workshops we’ve recorded and get a sense for what it’s like to work with us.