Fire Your Best Performer - When Toxic Talent Has to Go | Monday Next Episode 3

In this episode of Monday Next, siblings Scott Monday and Meredith Monday Schwartz take on one of the hardest leadership questions in business: when is it time to fire your top performer?

They share real stories from their own companies about high performers who hit every metric but quietly damaged culture, trust, and team alignment. Scott explains why numbers alone can blind leaders, and Meredith breaks down how ignoring your intuition can cost you months or years of progress.

This is a practical, honest conversation for business owners who want strong culture without sacrificing results.

If you run a business between $2M and $20M, manage a leadership team, or feel stuck between protecting revenue and protecting values, this episode is for you.

QUICK JUMP LINKS

00:00 — What Monday Next is all about
01:13 — Why this topic separates great businesses from average ones
02:40 — Crystal Knows and using AI tools to better understand people and personalities
09:35 — Leadership blind spots and self-reflection
12:36 — When top performers turn toxic
15:29 — Defining culture without buzzwords
18:30 — Making the hard call and losing revenue
22:21 — Why people rarely change
24:58 — How culture issues spread
29:21 — Using GWC (Get it, Want it, Capacity) as a leadership filter
31:00 — The real cost of waiting too long
34:15 — Avoiding uncomfortable conversations
41:26 — The one action to take this week
48:12 — Next week’s topic: remote work vs the office

KEY TOPICS WE COVER

Firing high performers for the sake of culture
Core values as a decision-making filter
Why intuition matters in leadership
GWC and role alignment
The long-term cost of avoiding hard conversations
Communicating difficult decisions to your team
Leadership decisions and family life

THIS WEEK’S MICRO-ACTION

Take 15 minutes of quiet time and think through your team one person at a time. If someone gives you pause, write it down and decide what conversation you need to have next.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

EOS and leadership frameworks: [https://scottmonday.substack.com/p/eo...]
Crystal Knows: [https://www.crystalknows.com/]
GWC framework (Get it, Want it, Capacity) [https://scottmonday.substack.com/p/gwc]
Radical Candor by Kim Scott: [https://www.radicalcandor.com/]
Morning pages journaling practice
Loom for internal communication: [http://loom.com]
Scott’s Substack: [https://scottmonday.substack.com]
Meredith’s Currently Reading Podcast: [https://www.currentlyreadingpodcast.com]

ABOUT SCOTT & MEREDITH
We’re siblings who run two very different businesses. Scott runs kitchen & bath CRATE [https://kbcrate.com/], a systems-first construction company. Meredith runs Here Comes the Guide [https://www.herecomestheguide.com/], an all-women wedding venue platform built on relationships and trust. Monday Next is our weekly conversation about building better businesses, staying human, and challenging norms.

CONNECT WITH US

Monday Next on IG: [  / mondaynextpodcast  ]
Monday Next on YouTube: [   / @mondaynextpodcast  ]
Scott on LinkedIn: [  / scottmonday  ]
Scott on IG: [  / scottmonday  ]
Scott on TikTok: [  / scottmonday  ]
Scott’s Substack: [https://scottmonday.substack.com]
Meredith on LinkedIn: [  / meredith-monday-schwartz  ]
Meredith on IG: [  / meredithmondayschwartz  ]
Meredith’s Currently Reading Podcast: [https://www.currentlyreadingpodcast.com]

IF YOU FOUND THIS HELPFUL...
Please like, subscribe, and share this episode with a business owner who’d get value from it. It helps the show reach more leaders like you.

Until Monday next....