The Ones You Can't Afford to Lose
There’s a type of person who makes everything easier.
They don’t announce it. They’re not campaigning for recognition. But when they’re in a meeting, things move forward. When they’re on a project, it gets done right. When they’re gone for a week, you feel it.
I call them energy creators. Some people call them value drivers or high performers or A players. Whatever you call them, here’s what matters. You probably have fewer of them than you think. And you’re probably not moving fast enough to keep them.
Energy creators aren’t always obvious. They’re not necessarily the loudest voice or the person with the most impressive resume. Sometimes they’re three levels down from where you’re looking.
But you know them when you see the patterns.
Other people go to them for help. Not because they’re assigned as mentors or designated subject matter experts. Because they actually help. They make things clearer. They solve problems instead of just talking about them.
They raise the performance of everyone around them. Put them on a struggling team and the team stops struggling. Pair them with someone new and that person ramps faster. Their presence changes the energy in the room.
They see what needs to happen before you have to tell them. They’re already fixing the problem while everyone else is still debating whether it’s a problem. They don’t wait for permission. They don’t need their hand held.
Here’s what I think separates them from everyone else. They create more value than they consume. Most people are neutral. They do their job, they take up a reasonable amount of time and resources, they contribute what’s expected. Energy creators give more than they take. And that difference compounds.
The longer they’re around, the more impact they have. Not just in what they do themselves, but in how they elevate everyone else. They make their manager better. They make their teammates sharper. They raise the standard without saying a word about standards.
Most organizations treat energy creators the same way they treat everyone else. Same development timeline. Same promotion cycle. Same “let’s see how you do over the next year” conversation.
And then they’re surprised when these people leave.
From my perspective, this is one of the biggest mistakes leaders and HR make. We apply standard processes to non-standard people. We tell someone who’s already operating two levels above their role that they need to “build more experience” before we can promote them. We make them wait their turn while they watch mediocre people get promoted because they’ve been around longer.
We say things like “we need to see consistency over time” when they’ve already been consistent for eighteen months. We say “there’s a natural progression” when the natural progression was built for average performers, not exceptional ones.
And the whole time we’re making them wait, we’re telling ourselves we’re being fair. We’re following the process. We’re not playing favorites.
Meanwhile, another company notices what we’re not noticing. They move faster. They offer the title, the money, the opportunity that actually matches what this person is capable of. And we lose them.
Then we act surprised. We do an exit interview. We ask what we could have done differently. And the answer is sitting right there in front of us. We could have moved faster. We could have treated them like the asset they were instead of like everyone else.
Energy creators don’t need cheerleading. They don’t need another “great job” email or a spot bonus. Those things are fine, but they’re not what keeps these people engaged.
They need you to move them up. Fast. Give them the title that matches what they’re already doing. Put them in roles where their impact can scale. Stop making them prove themselves over and over when they’ve already proven it.
I’ve seen this play out too many times. The person who’s already doing director-level work stuck in a senior role because “that’s the timeline.” The individual contributor who’s influencing strategy but can’t get a seat at the table because they need to “build their leadership skills” first. The high performer who’s been ready for a promotion for six months but has to wait until the next review cycle.
They need challenges that match their capability. If they’re coasting, they’re planning their exit. They want problems that are hard enough to be interesting. Projects that matter. Responsibility that stretches them.
And this is where a lot of organizations get it wrong. We think keeping people engaged means making them comfortable. Giving them work they can handle easily. Not overwhelming them.
But energy creators aren’t looking for easy. They’re looking for meaningful. They want to work on things that are hard. Things that matter. Things where the outcome isn’t guaranteed but the stakes are real.
When you give them easy work, they get bored. When you give them hard work, they get energized. It’s counterintuitive, but it’s true.
They need you to clear the path. Get the bureaucracy out of their way. Remove the roadblocks. Give them the autonomy to do what they do best without having to fight through three layers of approval for every decision.
I’ve watched talented people spend half their time navigating internal politics instead of doing the work they’re actually good at. Waiting for approvals that should take five minutes but take five days. Fighting systems that were built to prevent problems but end up preventing progress.
And here’s the thing nobody wants to say out loud. They need preferential treatment. Not equal treatment. Because equal treatment means you’re investing the same amount in someone who’s creating massive value as you are in someone who’s just showing up.
This is the part that makes people uncomfortable. But let’s be real about it.
If you have someone who’s driving ten times the impact of an average performer, why would you invest in them the same amount? Why would you give them the same development opportunities, the same access to leadership, the same level of attention?
Equal treatment sounds fair. But it’s not strategic. And it’s definitely not retention.
Picture this. You identify your energy creators. You start moving them faster. Giving them more. Investing disproportionately in their development.
And someone notices. Someone always notices.
“Why did they get promoted after 18 months when I’ve been here three years?” “Why are they getting mentorship from leadership when I had to figure it out on my own?” “Why does it feel like there are favorites?”
This is where most leaders and most HR teams back down. We retreat to “fair” processes that treat everyone the same. We slow down the energy creators to avoid uncomfortable conversations with everyone else.
We say things like “we need to be consistent” or “we can’t make exceptions” or “what kind of precedent does this set?”
And that’s exactly how you lose them.
Because while you’re worried about being fair to everyone, another company is being strategic about someone. And that someone is your energy creator.
You can’t keep everyone happy. If you try to be fair to everyone, you end up being strategic with no one.
The energy creators in your organization are going to keep creating energy somewhere. The only question is whether it’s for you or for whoever hires them next.
Moving them up fast doesn’t guarantee they’ll stay. But moving them slow guarantees they’ll leave.
And here’s what nobody tells you when you’re making these calls. The cost of losing an energy creator is never just one person. It’s the projects that don’t happen. The problems that don’t get solved. The people who don’t get better because they’re not around anymore.
It’s the team that loses momentum because the person who was driving it is gone. It’s the initiative that stalls because the person who understood it left. It’s the cultural shift that doesn’t happen because the person modeling it moved on.
You don’t just lose their output. You lose their influence. And that’s the thing most organizations don’t account for until it’s too late.
From my perspective, the question isn’t whether to give energy creators preferential treatment. It’s whether you can afford not to.
I’m still learning how to spot them earlier. Before they’ve already proven themselves ten times over. Before they’re already looking at other options because we moved too slow.
I’m still learning how to support them without burning them out. Because there’s a real risk there. You lean on your best people because they deliver. And sometimes you lean too hard.
I’m still learning how to have the conversation with everyone else. The people who aren’t energy creators and probably never will be. How do you be honest about that without demoralizing them? How do you invest differently without making them feel like they don’t matter?
I don’t have all the answers. But I know this. Most organizations lose their energy creators because they’re too worried about being fair to everyone to be strategic about anyone.
Who are the energy creators in your organization right now? Not the people you wish were energy creators. Not the people who look good on paper. The ones who are actually driving impact.
And more importantly, what are you doing to move them up before someone else does?