AVOID "SUMMIT SYNDROME"

"Summit Syndrome," an affliction that hits certain over-achievers, can derail careers. Management consultant George D. Parsons and Richard T. Pascale, an associate fellow at Oxford University, wrote about it in the March issue of the Harvard Business Review.

Those exhibiting the syndrome, which is difficult to spot early on, without carefully watching for signs, thrive on new challenges, and when the challenges have been overcome, they find it hard to carry on in a routine way. These talented people may suffer health problems or declining performance and may suddenly leave their organizations, not knowing how much they still have to achieve.

Some new challenges they may want to take on include: coaching and mentoring others; learning to shape a long-tern vision for their career and lives (or legacy) that their rapid rise never left time for; or learning to be better at managing conflict with others.