Losing Your Best: How Poor Leadership Can Drive Top Talent Away, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

Abstract: This article discusses how leadership behaviors can inadvertently undermine employee engagement and drive top performers to seek new opportunities. It identifies five areas where leaders commonly fall short: lack of recognition and praise for good work, insufficient meaningful feedback, unclear career growth opportunities, poor work-life balance expectations, and deficient company-wide communication. For each area, research is presented on its importance for retention followed by an illustrative example of an employee who departed due to that specific deficiency. The article advocates for leaders to adopt strategies like regular praise, ongoing development-focused feedback, transparent career roadmaps, flexibility that respects personal well-being, and consistent messaging. When leaders make intentional efforts to strengthen these human aspects of work, it nurtures an environment where high-performing talent is motivated to stay committed to the organization long-term.