Kim Scott

And there was part of me that was afraid that if I told Bob in no uncertain terms that his work wasn't nearly good enough, he would get upset. He might even start to cry. And then everyone would think I was a big, you know what? The part of me that was worried about my reputation as a leader, that was the manipulative insincerity part.

And there was part of me that was afraid that if I told Bob in no uncertain terms that his work wasn't nearly good enough, he would get upset. He might even start to cry. And then everyone would think I was a big, you know what? The part of me that was worried about my reputation as a leader, that was the manipulative insincerity part.

The part of me that was truly worried about Bob and his feelings, that was the ruinous empathy part. And this went on for 10 months and eventually the inevitable happened. And I realized that if I didn't fire Bob, I was going to lose all my best performers. Because not only have I been unfair to Bob not to tell him what he was doing wrong, I've been unfair to the whole team.

The part of me that was truly worried about Bob and his feelings, that was the ruinous empathy part. And this went on for 10 months and eventually the inevitable happened. And I realized that if I didn't fire Bob, I was going to lose all my best performers. Because not only have I been unfair to Bob not to tell him what he was doing wrong, I've been unfair to the whole team.

The part of me that was truly worried about Bob and his feelings, that was the ruinous empathy part. And this went on for 10 months and eventually the inevitable happened. And I realized that if I didn't fire Bob, I was going to lose all my best performers. Because not only have I been unfair to Bob not to tell him what he was doing wrong, I've been unfair to the whole team.

And everyone is frustrated. Their deliverables are late because Bob's deliverables are late. They're not able to spend as much time as they need to on their work because they're having to spend so much time redoing Bob's work and correcting his mistakes. And the people who are best at the job, they were going to quit. They were going to leave.

And everyone is frustrated. Their deliverables are late because Bob's deliverables are late. They're not able to spend as much time as they need to on their work because they're having to spend so much time redoing Bob's work and correcting his mistakes. And the people who are best at the job, they were going to quit. They were going to leave.

And everyone is frustrated. Their deliverables are late because Bob's deliverables are late. They're not able to spend as much time as they need to on their work because they're having to spend so much time redoing Bob's work and correcting his mistakes. And the people who are best at the job, they were going to quit. They were going to leave.

They were going to go work somewhere where they could do the best work of their lives. And so I decided it was time, past time, for me to sit down and have a conversation with Bob that I should have begun, frankly, 10 months previously. And when I finished explaining to him where things stood, he pushed his chair back from the table.

They were going to go work somewhere where they could do the best work of their lives. And so I decided it was time, past time, for me to sit down and have a conversation with Bob that I should have begun, frankly, 10 months previously. And when I finished explaining to him where things stood, he pushed his chair back from the table.

They were going to go work somewhere where they could do the best work of their lives. And so I decided it was time, past time, for me to sit down and have a conversation with Bob that I should have begun, frankly, 10 months previously. And when I finished explaining to him where things stood, he pushed his chair back from the table.

He looked me right in the eye and he said, why didn't you tell me? And as that question was going around in my head with no good answer, he looked at me again and he said, why didn't anyone tell me? I thought you all cared about me. And now I realized that by not having this conversation with Bob sooner, thinking I was being so nice, I'm having to fire him as a result of it. Not so nice after all.

He looked me right in the eye and he said, why didn't you tell me? And as that question was going around in my head with no good answer, he looked at me again and he said, why didn't anyone tell me? I thought you all cared about me. And now I realized that by not having this conversation with Bob sooner, thinking I was being so nice, I'm having to fire him as a result of it. Not so nice after all.

He looked me right in the eye and he said, why didn't you tell me? And as that question was going around in my head with no good answer, he looked at me again and he said, why didn't anyone tell me? I thought you all cared about me. And now I realized that by not having this conversation with Bob sooner, thinking I was being so nice, I'm having to fire him as a result of it. Not so nice after all.

But it was too late to save Bob because at this point, even he agreed he should go. His reputation on the team was just shot. All I could do in the moment was make myself a very solemn promise that I would never, make that mistake again, and that I would do everything in my power to help other people avoid making that mistake. Because it was so painful. It was painful for me.

But it was too late to save Bob because at this point, even he agreed he should go. His reputation on the team was just shot. All I could do in the moment was make myself a very solemn promise that I would never, make that mistake again, and that I would do everything in my power to help other people avoid making that mistake. Because it was so painful. It was painful for me.

But it was too late to save Bob because at this point, even he agreed he should go. His reputation on the team was just shot. All I could do in the moment was make myself a very solemn promise that I would never, make that mistake again, and that I would do everything in my power to help other people avoid making that mistake. Because it was so painful. It was painful for me.

It was obviously much worse for Bob and his family. And it was bad for the whole team. And it was bad for our investors because we weren't getting the kind of results that we could have otherwise gotten. And yet it was a terrible, it was too late to save the situation. Bob had decided he should go. All I could do in that moment

It was obviously much worse for Bob and his family. And it was bad for the whole team. And it was bad for our investors because we weren't getting the kind of results that we could have otherwise gotten. And yet it was a terrible, it was too late to save the situation. Bob had decided he should go. All I could do in that moment

It was obviously much worse for Bob and his family. And it was bad for the whole team. And it was bad for our investors because we weren't getting the kind of results that we could have otherwise gotten. And yet it was a terrible, it was too late to save the situation. Bob had decided he should go. All I could do in that moment