You have not Earned the Right to Resign!

That’s what I told an individual that I did not want to hire and now did not want to see go.

Part 1: The New Hire

We interviewed candidate for a C-suite role. Candidate shared his experience in driving change in a US MNC and spoke about being decisive, staying the course and moving people forward. Then he got our full attention:

“I want to take over my boss’ role in 12 months”. 

We loved his boldness. He showed ambition, confidence and directness. His record of implementing large projects, business acumen and technical expertise were other strong reasons to hire him.

I was also impressed by him. But I believed that he is the wrong hire. Three reasons:

1.      He will struggle to adapt to our culture.

2.      He is focused on I not We. 

3.      He lacks political maturity to deal with subtle power issues.

I was overruled. He was hired. 

Part 2: ‘I am not making a difference’

For his on-boarding, I made sure that he met the key players, over informal, more private settings. I also offered my counsel and an open door. He met me one more time and then he was off and running.

Several months later, he came to my office. 

“I am not making a difference. Better if I leave. No one has my back…”

I said, “This business is like a super tanker. Have to push. Then wait for it to turn. Pushing is easy – Waiting is hard. If you leave, you will regret!!! Why? Because you gave up too quickly. You haven’t earned the right to resign. Stay.”

“Stay for what?” he asked.

“Stay for the people who hired you, for the people you hired and for people who believe in where you are taking them.”

He kept silent.

I left him alone.

Several days later he told me that he will stay.

Part 3: Change begins with You

We met several times and talked about many things. But most of all we discussed ‘go slow to go fast’ – You go slow to help people accept the WHY for change, then progress will be fast. The WHY will be accepted when the leader answers 3 questions. 

1.      Are you working for I or WE? If for I, people will say yes only because you sign their pay check. But if leader serves WE, people run with you because they want to. 

2.      Do you respect our past? If not, you disrespect the contributions of all who came before you. 

3.      Can you gain trust? You earn it when

a.      What you say is what you do, and

b.      You learn to trust others. If not, why would others trust you?

He is making progress. One day, he shared this with me “If you want to go fast, run alone. If you want to go far, bring others.” He understands go slow to go fast!

I asked him one final question – When the pressure is on, will you stay strong or go back to default mode?

He said, “I thought I did not know the answer. That I will only know what I will decide when the situation actually happens. But I realise how strongly I feel about getting people to embrace the WHY first. Without WHY we will have war, there will be no winners, and everyone will suffer. I will stay strong.”

Is he showboating? NO! I believe him. 100%

I think back about the first day I met him and his “I want my boss job” remark. While we may not all have agreed on the decision to hire him, I am glad that we all agreed with the decision to keep him!

Part 4: The Journey Continues

Time passes. There is change for me too. I have moved on. I left the company, but I don’t leave people. I wondered, ‘How are they doing…who have I helped?’

One day, he called me. “Remember our conversation-I wanted to resign but you insisted that I stay? Well, I am still here, and they made me the CEO.”

I love Jack Ma’s quote. “Never give up. Today is hard. Tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.” The problem is many give up on “worse tomorrow”. I am happy he never gave up. And even happier he made it pass tomorrow to enjoy the sunshine! The journey continues, my friend.

Keep going…Keep growing.