878. What to Do About the Toxic Top Performer

No Days Off with Brian Gubernick · Aug 11, 2026 · 10m

Every business owner eventually gets one. The best producer on the team, numbers nobody can argue with, and a pattern of behavior that's driving good people out the door. You've known about it for a year. You've done nothing, because if they leave, what happens to the number?

Brian's argument is that the fear keeping you stuck has a name, and once you name it, you understand why every hard conversation you've had with this person went nowhere. It also explains why the standard advice, go address it directly, is the wrong first move.

He walks through what has to be true before that…