How to Handle the 800-lb. Gorilla

Let's face it, top professionals are not always the easiest people to lead. Why? Because they are usually creative, talented, and fiercely competitive. Every firm needs prima donnas. They can be the drivers of change, and ask the tough firm questions that most people think but few voice. By having mavericks who provoke a direct and frank dialogue on tough issues, the group is usually better off.

Jim Shaffer, author of The Leadership Solution (and a principal at Towers Perrin for 20 years) told us: Some of the most brilliant, quirky, eccentric, emotionally zapped people in the world are loved by their clients but they create living hell for everyone who has to work with them and everyone who has to lead them. When a leader tries to use textbook constructive feedback and good performance management techniques, prima donnas are apt to become emotionally distraught, defensive, belligerent, and attacking, and exhibit other defense mechanism behaviors. And because they're so darn smart and usually so darn articulate, they often intimidate the hell out of their manager, leaving him or her speechless.