Let’s face it. Anyone reading this article thinks that information about how to reward highly-regarded employees applies to them. And we all have ideas about what these rewards should be (more money, bigger title, bigger office, etc.) But short of giving out stock options that will be worth 0 zillion in six months, how can managers provide meaningful incentives, and rewards, for star performers? Wharton management professor Anne Cummings recently spoke with an MBA student who related an experience he had while working for an aircraft manufacturer. The student, then a fulltime employee, had come up with an idea that over the long-term would save the company millions of dollars and also potentially save lives. For his effort he had received a pen set. “The ‘reward’ was a big reason why he left the company,” says Cummings. “He told me that he would rather have gotten nothing.…