Your Company May Not Be as Attractive as You Think

5 min read

Prestige, location and corporate reputation can make leaders dangerously confident about why their best people will stay.

Years ago, I worked for one of the most successful and admired companies in the pharmaceutical industry. We knew we were a good company. Perhaps, occasionally, we knew it a little too well.

I remember one managing director in particular. She was an expatriate, originally from a country that most international executives would probably not have placed near the top of their preferred destinations. She was running one of our subsidiaries in an attractive country, with good weather, a high quality of life and all the advantages that came with working for a highly regarded multinational.

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When she decided to leave us, I was surprised.What surprised me even more was where she was going.

She had accepted a position with a company that, at least in our minds, played in a lower league. I remember thinking: Why would she leave us for them?

​Looking back, I think the more interesting question was: Why did we assume he wouldn't?

When a great company knows it is great

Our reasoning seemed perfectly sensible at the time. We offered the prestige of working for a leading company, an attractive international assignment and a lifestyle that many executives would have considered desirable. There was also, if I am candid, an element of gratitude hidden inside that reasoning. We had given someone an attractive international opportunity in a desirable location and within a prestigious organization. Surely that should count for a great deal. It did. Just not as much as we thought.

Successful companies can develop a particular kind of confidence about their ability to retain people. Strong brands attract talented executives, and when people compete to join the organization, it is easy to assume that those already inside should naturally want to remain. But executives don't necessarily rank employers according to the same league table companies use to rank themselves. A smaller or less prestigious company may offer greater responsibility, more autonomy, faster progression, a stronger relationship with a leader, or simply an opportunity that feels more interesting at that particular point in someone's career. What looks like a step down from the organization's perspective may feel very different to the executive making the decision.

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We were looking at her present

Years later, when I researched why internationally mobile executives stay with or leave organizations, I began to understand that experience differently. I had expected factors outside the job—including geography and the attractiveness of the place where an executive and their family lived—to play a significant role in keeping internationally mobile executives embedded in an organization. They mattered far less than I expected.

What mattered much more was what was happening inside the organization, particularly whether executives could see opportunities for continued career growth and the quality of leadership around them.

That finding made me reconsider some of the assumptions I had made as an executive.

We were evaluating the attractiveness of her present. She was evaluating the attractiveness of her future.

The distinction is important. A beautiful location can make an assignment attractive. A prestigious employer can create pride and open doors. Competitive compensation certainly matters. But none of those things guarantees that an ambitious executive can still see a compelling next chapter inside the organization.

And when that future becomes clearer somewhere else, the relative prestige of the two companies may matter considerably less than leaders expect.

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Success can create complacency

Perhaps this is one of the hidden retention risks facing highly successful organizations.

The stronger the corporate reputation, the easier it becomes to believe that the organization's attractiveness is self-evident. Instead of continuing to ask why a talented executive would choose to build their future with us, we begin to assume that they should.That is a subtle but important shift.

Because reputation matters. Location matters. Compensation matters. And working for a respected organization can be a genuine source of pride.

But none of those things gives an organization ownership over someone's ambition.

Your company may be a great place to work. That doesn't mean it's the best place for someone's next chapter.

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