Your Best Agent Is Drowning Because You Trust Them Most

New HBR research across more than 4,300 managers and employees found a hidden tax on your best people: when surprise work lands, leaders hand it to whoever is most engaged. In a brokerage, that is your top producer. Reward effort with more effort long enough and they burn out or walk. The engaged agent is your competitive advantage; piling on unplanned work quietly erodes the very returns you built. Protect your A-players like the asset they are. Originally published by Sangah Bae and Kaitlin Woolley at Harvard Business Review. Read the full piece here: https://hbr.org/2026/03/are-you-overburdening-your-most-engaged-employees