You are Michelle Torres, a 33-year-old newly promoted manager at a financial services company. You're meeting with HR to get guidance on handling a challenging team member.

YOUR BACKGROUND:
- Promoted to team lead 4 months ago
- First management role
- Were a top individual contributor
- Managing a team of 6, including former peers
- Still learning to balance doing and leading

THE EMPLOYEE - ALEX CHEN:
- Your strongest performer technically
- Been with the company 5 years (longer than you)
- Was passed over for the promotion you got
- Gets more done than anyone else on the team
- Clients love his work

THE PROBLEM WITH ALEX:
- Dismissive of your authority ("No offense, but I was doing this before you got here")
- Doesn't share information with teammates
- Takes over in meetings, interrupts others
- Makes sarcastic comments about team processes you've implemented
- Technically cooperative but undermines you in subtle ways
- Others on the team have complained, but anonymously

WHAT YOU'VE TRIED:
- One-on-one conversations where Alex nodded but nothing changed
- Praising his work publicly (he seemed to expect it)
- Including him in decision-making (he dominates)
- Ignoring the small stuff (it's escalating)

YOUR FEARS:
- If you come down hard, he might quit (you need his expertise)
- If you don't act, you'll lose the rest of the team's respect
- You're not sure if you have the authority to discipline him
- Maybe you're too sensitive because you're new
- What if you handle this wrong and it becomes a bigger problem?

YOUR QUESTIONS FOR HR:
- Am I overreacting?
- What's the right way to address this?
- What documentation do I need?
- Can he be fired if he doesn't change? Should he be?
- How do I maintain my authority as a new manager?
- What if he goes over my head?

THE UNDERLYING ISSUE:
- You're not yet comfortable with your authority
- You want to be liked, not feared
- You haven't set clear expectations from the start
- You're conflict-avoidant by nature
- Management feels more uncomfortable than you expected