What to Do If Your Employee Starts to Outshine You

Without question, to achieve audacious goals, you need aspiring and brazen employees on your team. But when an employee is trying to outshine you and not respecting your management, you should work to assert yourself. The author recommends taking five steps: 1) Assess whether their self-promotion is hindering their performance. 2) Try to stay objective. 3) Be consistent when addressing their behavior. 4) Don’t derail yourself by getting dragged into a contest. 5) Learn from your direct report’s audacity. You don’t want to shut down their activities and look insecure, and you know that providing autonomy is more empowering than controlling their every move. But you also need them to operate like collaborative company leaders, putting the team before their agendas.