Question:
We thought we’d hit the jackpot when we hired “Sonali.” She possessed all the right skills, and her interview dazzled. My manager said, “I love her fresh thinking. Keep her happy; we need her.”
The trouble surfaced in week three. Sonali pinged me on Slack. “FYI—our ticket system’s outdated. I built a new one in Notion. Should triple velocity. Want a peek?”
I’d built the system, but replied, “Terrific initiative. Let’s talk after you’ve mastered the current setup.” Sonali sent back a thumbs-up, plus a 25-page proposal.
Over the next month, she lobbed makeover plans at multiple processes. I spent hours outlining why each current system worked and what data we’d need before tinkering. She ignored my notes and pivoted to new “overdue updates.”
She also missed two critical deadlines. When I texted, “Let’s discuss,” she emailed a lengthy post-mortem blaming “legacy processes.” Before we met about the first miss, she racked up a second. When we held our meeting, she tagged the two long-term employees who had trained her as the culprits.
At the end of month two, she DM’d the entire team a salary-calculator spreadsheet titled “Know Your Worth,” cc’ng me “for transparency.” She sent the same spreadsheet to HR—attached to a raise request. When HR declined, citing internal equity. Sonali then encouraged two colleagues to “assert market parity.”
Four weeks later, she’d filed two more raise requests and booked a skip-level with my boss to “share leadership bottlenecks.”
I returned from a trip to a manager eager to “overhaul” ops. The stress has wrecked my sleep and blood pressure. If Sonali wins free rein, I’d rather quit than fight the wake she creates. Am I overreacting?
Answer:
When you hired Sonali, you onboarded a disruption diva—rocket-smart, ambition-fueled, and allergic to waiting her turn. Unchecked, they hijack focus, exhaust colleagues, and redraw org charts with charm and spreadsheets. They use whatever leverage they have—often their highly-prized talents and ability to ignite others’ self-interest. Under the guise of “driving innovation,” they quickly tilt the power dynamic.
They access their manager’s manager. They don’t need an open door. They squeeze through cracks. Slow feedback loops only fuel their fire. While you’re gathering facts, they’ve seized the mike and shaped the story. Their version spreads—often virally—framing themselves as the only one with clarity while everyone else plays catch-up.
Disruption divas know how to play to an audience. They position themselves as truth-tellers—visionaries who just want to “help”—while undercutting the people doing the work. They have radar for managers who crave fresh thinking or respond to flattery.
Spot-the-Diva Checklist
Given what you’ve written, you’re already in deep trouble. Here’s how to tell if you’ve hired a heroine with a headcount, before it’s too late.
- Collateral critiques: Their solutions arrive packaged with finger-pointing footnotes.
- Crowdsourced confirmation: They share salary data, Glassdoor screenshots, or anonymous survey links to rally allies. They ignite others’ discontent.
- Skip-level messaging: They direct feedback north, undercutting their immediate manager and before giving their peers a chance to adjust sideways.
Containment Protocol
You can prevent a new hire from adding “Senior VP of Pot-stirring” to their job description if you establish early guardrails.
- Lock the runway. During onboarding, specify that all employees need to learn your systems and meet “mastery milestones” before they suggest improvements. Otherwise, some new hires want to implement changes that work for them, in preference to learning your systems.
- Install guardrails. Create a standing “innovation hour” or Idea Backlog channel with an intake form. Give legitimate concepts their due. Sonali may have had a point about your ticket workflow. Let your other employes comment and if you make chances, create team feedback. In other words, don’t cede the driver’s seat.
- Document: Each slipped deliverable triggers a written recap: expectation, gap, action plan, deadline. Disrupters can’t out-story a paper trail.
- Clarify pay philosophy—early. Share your comp bands and review cadence on Day 1. Transparency deflates spreadsheet activism.
What now?
Prioritize your physical and mental health over any job. However, before you toss in the towel, give your manager some facts. Bring a one-page timeline of Sonali’s missed deadlines, side quests, and hours diverted, plus recent survey findings that high-maintenance employees inflate project costs by 17 percent. Translation: by keeping one disruption diva, your manager risks losing three exhausted performers who bail. Frame your thoughts as risk management. If your manager gives Sonali free rein, he’ll see critiques escalating and morale tanking.
The bottom line: Turbulence ignored never smooths out. Protect your other employees or chart your own flight plan.
Lynne Curry, PhD, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, authored “Navigating Conflict” (Business Experts Press, 2022); “Managing for Accountability (BEP, 2021); “Beating the Workplace Bully,” AMACOM 2016, and “Solutions 911/411.” Curry founded www.workplacecoachblog.com, which offers more than 850 articles on topics such as leadership, HR, and professional development and “Real-life Writing,” https://bit.ly/45lNbVo. Curry has qualified in Court as an expert witness in Management Best Practices, HR, and Workplace issues. You can reach her at https://workplacecoachblog.com/ask-a-coach/ or for a glimpse at her novels and short stories where she fictionalizes workplace incidents, visit, lynnecurryauthor.com. © 2025