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AOM Press Releases

Inc.: Need Superstar Employees on Your Team?

16 Aug 2021
A 2020 study published in AOM Journal found that "a creative star who occupies a central position in the team workflow network has both a positive direct effect on team creativity and a negative indirect effect on team creativity via reducing non-stars' learning."

Originally found at Inc., by Jeff Haden.

Every business wants to hire as many superstar employees as possible.

But be careful what you wish for.

Take basketball. For every 2016 Golden State Warriors, there are plenty of "super teams" that didn't win championships. The '94 Rockets of Barkley, Drexler, and Olajuwon. The 2010 Heat of LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. The '03 Lakers of Shaq, Kobe, Payton, and Malone.

Or take rock bands. As Glenn Frey says in the History of the Eagles documentary, "No one can do anything without the other guys, but everybody doesn't get to touch the ball all the time." Talent matters. But so does teamwork.

So does having people whose real talent is making the people around them better. So does having superstars who embrace their role on the team -- and roughly speaking, stay within the boundaries of that role. Because all too often superstars can start to focus more on ensuring their light shines the brightest than they do on the team's success.

And that's when a "super team" implodes.


Continue reading the original article at Inc.

Read the original research in Academy of Management Journal.

Learn more about the AOM Scholars and explore their work:

  • Yuan Li, Tongji University
  • Ning Li, The University of Iowa, and Tsinghua University
  • Chuanjia Li, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
  • Jingyu Li, The Chinese University of Hong Kong