Managing Your Most Difficult But Most Valuable Employees

"High Betas" are the high-IQ, low-EQ employees who'll come up with your next $1billion idea, says Stephen Miles

New C-Suite Intelligence Podcast Episode from TMG

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Nov 05, 2019, 16:56 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- They are "high beta" executives, according to The Miles Group/TMG: your company's most difficult employees, but the ones who can also bring your company billions of dollars.

In a new C-Suite Intelligence podcast out today – "Managing Your Most Difficult But Most Valuable Employees" – Stephen Miles talks about the challenges and pay-offs of these "Big Bang" individuals – and why they are needed today more than ever.

High betas: High-IQ, low-EQ, Big Bang risks and rewards
These high-IQ, low-EQ employees are tough to deal with: "High betas are difficult in every dimension and pride themselves on their prickliness. And they are nonconforming, which is difficult in an organization where everyone is expected to conform at a certain basic social level. They are hard to get along with from a peer standpoint and are difficult to manage."

"But despite their behavior, high betas are more than worth it because they create disproportionate value inside the company," says Miles. "They are not incrementalists – they are 'Big Bang' people who take big risks and make big bets that turn into billion-dollar ideas. And they have a hit rate that totally differentiates them from everyone else."

Why high betas are so important today
"We live in a world that's getting harder for business every year, not easier. Most American companies are the fittest they've ever been from a balance sheet and cost perspective – it's growth that's hard to find, and this is where differentiation becomes so important," says Miles.

"High betas take on the massive problems that no one else in a company wants to do. They break paradigms and ways of thinking that have gotten entrenched. They will seek to solve a huge supply chain challenge that can completely transform an industry, as we've seen in food. They can make bets in pharma where the result is a $10 billion drug. It's this kind of disproportionate value creation from high betas that is so desperately needed by companies today."

In the podcast, Miles explains the challenges of working with high betas and how best to manage them as a leader. He provides tips for building relationships with these employees, especially when their peers are not getting along with them. He advises managers on the ways to build a structure and reporting line that creates an environment for the high beta to be highly successful – without driving everyone else crazy.

This is the 10th episode in TMG's C-Suite Intelligence podcast series, including:

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

For more information, please contact Davia Temin or Suzanne Oaks Brownstein of Temin and Company at 212.588.8788 or [email protected].

About the C-Suite Intelligence podcast
CEOs running the world's top companies don't start out that way – they pull ahead of their peers with behaviors and practices that make them the "best of the best." Stephen Miles and the team at TMG coach some of the world's most successful executives, helping them continuously up their game even as business conditions grow more complex every day. Through the C-Suite Intelligence podcast, learn the secrets of the highest performers, and use this intelligence to power your career.

About The Miles Group/TMG
TMG develops talent strategies for organizations, teams, and individuals – focusing on high-performance, world-class leadership. Through assessments and development, coaching, leadership transition planning, and organizational design, TMG helps clients cultivate exceptional talent from the C-suite to the next generation of leaders throughout the organization. Clients include many of the Fortune 100 as well as VC portfolio companies, firms in transition, and organizations around the globe and across industries. TMG has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Fortune, C-Suite, Entrepreneur, and Chief Executive. The firm is headquartered in New York City and operates globally. For more information, visit http://miles-group.com. Follow TMG on Twitter @TheMilesGroup and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-miles-group.

SOURCE The Miles Group/TMG