I watched a CEO fire his best mate last year.

I watched a CEO fire his best mate last year.

They’d started the business together. Ten years of late nights and cash flow crises and trying not to kill each other. Genuinely close.

But he had hit his personal ceiling in the business and geniunely wasn’t having fun anymore. He wasn’t up for the growth journey. And honestly, everyone in that room knew it. Had known for a while.

So we did the People Analyzer. Not to prove anything, just to get it out of people’s heads and onto paper. Scores came back and the room went dead quiet.

They had the conversation that Friday. I won’t pretend it went well. Even though he had hit a ceiling and wasn’t enjoying working in the business that it had grown to be, he was gutted and the CEO looked like he hadn’t slept for a week after.

The best mate is now running a smaller operation he loves. And the leadership team finally stopped tiptoeing around the elephant in the room and is all aligned around growth.

The hardest part was never about him leaving. It was about the CEO admitting he’d been protecting a friendship at the cost of the business. That takes guts.

#Leadership #RightPeopleRightSeats #BusinessGrowth