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Episode Date: June 19, 2014
https://youtu.be/w8ELtowbs-Y
It’s never easy, but sometimes you have to fire people. The key is to be calm, keep emotion out of it, and recognize that you probably made a mistake in hiring if it’s come to this point.
Top Insights
- It's better when people can choose where they work and who gets to work for them. This creates the fluidity that enables companies to succeed. Of course, there are times where this creates unfair firings.
- If there's any doubt about anybody at your company, there's no doubt that you should fire them. If 2 or 3 different team members say someone doesn't fit at the company, do your diligence, but the person probably isn't a fit.
- You need to learn from these mistakes and get better at hiring. Take your time hiring — as much as you can.
- You don't need to be mean or personal during the process of firing someone. Take the emotion out of it.
- If you can't handle the process well, hire someone who is great at it.
- When you have to fire someone, it's probably because you made a mistake in the hiring process and that's on you. This is almost universally the case.
- It is incredibly hard dealing with the issue of firing, especially if you haven't done it before.
- If you're doing it for the right reasons, it's a great learning opportunity for you — and them.
- Two things occurred:
- That person did not meet your expectations
- You did not hire a person who could meet your expectations (you didn't do a good job at hiring).
- If you hired someone with a lot of previous experience at other companies and who did a great job in their previous roles, but they don't do well at your company, what happened? You will need to consider that it was probably your fault.
We're all fallible. Everybody makes mistakes. You might not have managed the person perfectly, you may have not given them instructions on how to do their job properly, you may have hired the wrong person, or thought you needed a skillset that you didn't. - Jason