As a friend of mine says, "You know when you know." Commitment and
courage, plus compassion and consideration. Nicely done, Tom. ‹ Paul

On 2/4/15, 11:13 AM, "Thomas Karsten" <thomasakarsten@gmail.com> wrote:

>For the past year or so my long time assistant and I have not been on the
>same page in terms of company goals.
>
>She has always spoken freely to me, even when we disagree. The past year,
>however, she has been even more vocal and started expressing her views to
>everyone in the company. It has been a huge drag on morale and everyone
>is walking on eggshells.
>
>I used the DT to move into creator mode and talked to her about her role
>as a leader and I hoped she would embrace that role and get on board with
>our growth plans. She still doesn't like the idea of growth and was blunt
>that she felt her position in the company was threatened by everything we
>are doing.
>
>It all came to a head shortly before Christmas. Because of loyalty and
>her 18 years with the firm, I put her on 4 weeks of paid leave. My hope
>was that she would know I was serious about needing to change and also
>come back refreshed.
>
>When she came back, unfortunately, nothing seemed to change.  She gave me
>her 2 week notice on Friday. I asked her to think about it over the
>weekend and historically I would have compromised my vision and goals to
>keep the peace.
>
>Over the weekend I decided that it was time to say no to myself. After a
>lot of reflection, I now know that it is best she moves on. So yesterday
>I told her yes, I was very appreciative of her dedication over the years,
>but no, we are not making changes to scale back our growth plans.
>
>We parted on good terms and I feel and know that it was the right
>decision.
>
>Thanks for listening/reading.
>
>Tom
>
>