04-01-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

Why the best employees often carry the heaviest burden

If you’re the person in the office everyone turns to, you may develop the capability curse.

[Photo: Getty Images]

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Anyone who has spent time in a workplace knows the “go-to” person. They are the colleague who can figure things out when others cannot, and who steps in when something complicated needs to get done.

Early in your career, becoming that person feels like success. In many ways, it is. Being capable accelerates opportunity. Leaders notice you, people trust you, and your reputation grows.

But over time, something subtle happens. The more capable you prove yourself to be, the more people rely on you.

I call this the capability curse.

The capability curse occurs when someone’s proven ability to solve problems leads others to depend on them for nearly every challenge. With each success, expectations rise. What once impressed becomes the standard, and when something falls short, the disappointment is sharper because the bar became so high.

Ironically, the people who can do the most often end up carrying the heaviest burden.

WHEN COMPETENCE BECOMES A LIABILITY

Early in my career, I was asked to build a database for people analytics. I was a recruiter, not a programmer. My manager handed me a book, recommended a consultant, and said, “Figure it out.”

So I did. I spent nights learning the system and building something that worked. But because I was not a trained developer, it was not perfect. Eventually errors surfaced, and the same people who praised the initiative began to question the system when it........

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