Li Hongyi: Defining Real Performance, Avoiding Burnout & Building Accountable Teams – E638

"Promotions are something to be celebrated. You get paid more, gain more responsibility, and it feels good. But the fastest way to ruin someone is to over-promote them. When you put a strong performer into a role where they can’t meet expectations, you turn confidence into anxiety. Instead of calmly doing their work, they start worrying about getting fired. Everyone depends on them, and they feel they’re letting others down. The extra money doesn’t make up for the stress of knowing your colleagues are disappointed in you." - Li Hongyi, Director at Open Government Products

"One simple mistake I used to make was promoting young, hardworking, capable officers too quickly. They were doing a great job, but sometimes it was luck, burnout, or timing when everything aligned. I ended up with junior officers outperforming seniors who were struggling and stressed, which was tough for everyone, including the team. Apart from performance, you must look at consistency and sustainability. If someone is performing well but clearly burning out, they cannot keep it up for years. Promoting them only locks them into a difficult position. Even if they insist they want the promotion, once they get it, they realize the stress outweighs the reward. Instead of operating comfortably and improving, they hover at the limit, and any small slip leads to underperformance." - Li Hongyi, Director at Open Government Products

"It is very critical to ask whether they have the right values. The people you promote as leaders will become the ones others look up to. If someone performs well but behaves in a way you wouldn’t want others to emulate, you should think twice before promoting them. It’s a difficult conversation to have—you might say, 'You’re doing great work, but I don’t think I want other people behaving the way you do.' It’s not that they are behaving badly, but maybe they make decisions too rashly or too conservatively. Maybe they prioritize optics over delivery, or focus on delivery without enough care. If you would not want others to copy their behavior, don’t promote them." - Li Hongyi, Director at Open Government Products

Li Hongyi, Director of Open Government Products, and Jeremy Au discuss how leaders can define, measure, and sustain real performance within organizations. They unpack why clarity of purpose matters more than ambition, how to design fair and motivating systems, and how to prevent burnout in high-performing teams. Their conversation bridges lessons from public service and startups, showing how structure, accountability, and empathy build lasting excellence.