Every leader has one. They exceed targets and clients love them. Because the numbers are good, nobody wants to look closely at what else is happening around them.
Paul Jan Zdunek, a former orchestra conductor who has spent more than 20 years leading organizations through crisis and change, sees this pattern constantly. “I see that a lot, actually, especially in sales departments,” he says. A company has an incredible salesperson who is out of touch with the team, rude or mean, but people keep them because they bring in all the money.
The uncomfortable truth is that this arrangement costs more than it looks like it does.
The Real Cost of a Toxic Star
Researchers Michael Housman and Dylan Minor analyzed data on more than 50,000 employees across 11 firms and reached a striking conclusion: Replacing one toxic worker saved companies an estimated $12,489, almost double what a star performer adds.
Part of the reason is that toxic behavior rarely stays contained. It shows up as team members holding back ideas, more blame and conflict, less collaboration, and strong contributors quietly leaving. Research from Revelio Labs, cited by SHRM, found that toxic workplace culture was a stronger predictor of employee turnover than compensation. Good people often don’t leave because of the workload. They leave because leadership tolerates behavior that makes the work harder than it needs to be.
This matters because team performance depends on the very things a “soloist” tends to undermine. Gallup’s research across 183,000 teams points to trust, collaboration, coaching, and strong relationships as core drivers of results. One person who consistently erodes those conditions can cost the whole team more than their own numbers add.
Everyone Is Watching How You Respond
The damage doesn’t only come from the star’s behavior. It also comes from what the rest of the team learns by watching you react.
Paul Zdunek, an expert on the topic, is direct about this: your employees are always watching how you handle that person, what they get away with and what they don’t. They may never say anything, but you are being judged as a leader the entire time. If you hold everyone else to a standard and this one person is exempt, the message to the team is clear… whatever you say in the next all-hands.
That is why ignoring the problem is the most expensive option. Paul also notes that in today’s world, problems can’t be left to fester, because things move too fast. What starts as a small issue becomes a team-wide one while you wait for a better moment
What to Do About It
The fix isn’t automatically to fire your top performer. Paul’s advice is to dig into the cause first, because the right response depends on what is actually going on. “It could be that they just don’t understand what the alignment is,” he explains. Or it could be that they don’t believe in it, which is a bigger problem. Here is how to approach it:
Redefine what performance means. Results matter, and so does how they’re achieved. Someone who hits their targets while damaging the team isn’t meeting the full requirements of the role.
Measure impact beyond individual output. Look at retention, engagement, collaboration, and peer feedback alongside revenue.
Give feedback in real time. Paul describes the habit as dealing with “ice cubes before they become icebergs.” He borrows it from music, where a lesson is an hour of suggestions for doing things better. Small, frequent corrections keep leaders from avoiding conflict until it becomes a crisis.
Check whether the person understands the direction. Make sure the mission and expectations are clear before assuming bad intent.
Hold the same standard for everyone. Be fair and equitable. If someone won’t be part of the team after that, then maybe they need to find a better fit elsewhere.
The best teams are never built around one star. They’re built on trust, and a leader’s willingness to protect it, even when it’s uncomfortable, is what keeps the whole organization moving in the same direction.