Every company has someone who has perfected the art of talking long after everyone else has stopped listening. This BUT is particularly annoying if the person talks mostly about himself or herself. Once the Talker gets on a roll, they are like the bus in the movie Speed. No matter how many times you try to knock their chatter off the road, somehow it just keeps going. How is it that they talk so much and say so little? And when they do it with clients, you have to muster every ounce of composure to stop yourself from strangling them.

If you are an incessant talker, please stop now! It’s killing your ability to advance. Self-awareness is one of the most important qualities of a leader, and talking too much is the surest sign you lack that important quality. You may not be the number-one “motor mouth” in your office, but if you are ranked in the top 10 percent, we guarantee it’s holding you back. In the history of mankind, no one has ever learned anything while they were talking. If you are presenting, take a breath every so often, look around, and see if your audience is with you or simply sleeping with their eyes open. Early in Joe’s career an old banker colleague pulled him aside after a meeting in which he had gone on for too long on a topic. He said, “Joe, you just blew a perfect opportunity to keep your mouth shut.” His comment had such an impact that Joe still remembers it twenty-three years later.

SOLUTION: If you suspect that talking too much is your BUT, we suggest that the next time you have an important meeting where you will be speaking, take one of those large black steel binder clips that hold big stacks of paper together and clip it to the end of your tongue. Leave it on for one minute just before the meeting starts. This will remind you just how much your tongue is hurting you.

In all seriousness, when speaking to your audience make sure you pay attention to the body language of the attendees. Are they looking back at you or staring into space? Do they seem interested or engaged? Are they asking questions, or are they checking their smartphones or doodling on their notepads? If you feel you have lost the audience, you have to try to get them back. Ask them if this is the information they wanted. Ask them if you should move on to the next section. Ask them what they would like to discuss. Make them engage with you. The best presentations are those that are interactive between speaker and audience. When presenting, you are, in essence, delivering a product to your important customer base. Give them exactly what they want, with no filler, and elicit the feedback you need to make sure that you can keep doing so.

Last spring Joe’s daughter, Colleen, was studying in Spain. Joe had business to do in Paris, so he had her meet him there for the weekend. They took the opportunity to visit the catacombs, a series of caverns and tunnels under Paris that hold the remains of more than six million Parisians. The skulls and bones of all these people are stacked from floor to ceiling in a never-ending trail of underground rooms. It is a macabre yet humbling experience of the first order. We’re sure most of the six million people whose bones are stacked up like firewood in the catacombs, at some time in their life, felt irreplaceable.

SOLUTION: Never let up. Compete every day. Be paranoid about the competition. The more knowledgeable and productive you are, the more difficult you are to replace.

SOLUTION: In the navy there is an expression, “Loose lips sink ships.” In the business world: “Loose lips torpedo careers.” Avoid the water-cooler chatter. Keep confidential what has been classified as confidential. Don’t blow a perfect opportunity to keep your mouth shut.

Such distractions sharply raise the cost of employing this individual and greatly reduce their value to their firm. For example, a high-maintenance employee may be paid $75,000 per year, but their cost to the firm can be $150,000 if you account for the resources they drain from the company.

The problem with high-maintenance people is they are often oblivious to the immeasurable cost of their never-ending needs and attention grabbing. They can be hardworking, friendly, and very well intentioned. However, they involve others with their problems and challenges way too early and way too often. High-maintenance people are very squeaky and require a lot of oil. And oil is very expensive. This BUT affects so many people and it’s definitely one that will get you noticed—in a bad way.

SOLUTION: First, assess whether you could be perceived as high maintenance. How much of your manager’s and colleagues’ time is being taken up by issues that you have responsibility for? Remember, you are getting paid to manage these issues, and your job is to protect others from having to deal with them. If you are high maintenance, you’d better deliver some high productivity. Otherwise, your antics will not be tolerated for very long. Think carefully before bringing your problems to others and burning up their time. Try to solve things on your own. Your manager has plenty of other things to do. If you do show up at your manager’s door with a problem, make sure that you also bring a solution. Companies are looking for people who deliver high productivity and require a low l...