Matt Mochary: prediction

Transcript context

…Yeah, the reason people are bad at this is because they think that they're hurting the person who they're letting go. I mean, how many times have I heard from someone, "Yeah, this person's not performing, but gosh, they really need this job and their mother has cancer," and whatever personal situation they're in. Wei Deng, who is the CEO of Clipboard Health, who's one of my favorite CEOs, who frankly I learn more from her than she learns from me, she shared with me her framework for making decisions, which is she separates the decision from the implementation, meaning she thinks about who is the stakeholder here that I'm solving for? And almost always in a company, you're solving for the customer. So, what would the customer want to see happen? That's the decision. Of course, the customer would want to see only the best employees and anyone who isn't a great employee, don't be there. Now the implementation is, if I do this, if I let this person go, who gets hurt? Well, the employee gets hurt. Maybe I get hurt because it's a painful conversation. Maybe the rest of the team gets hurt because they're sad that their friend is leaving. Then you look at, well, what can we do? Each person who gets hurt, what is it that they really want? Let's see if we can help them get what they really want. Well, the person let go, what do they want? They want a great job where they're actually needed and they feel fulfilled, so they enjoy what they're doing and they're actually critical to the company or organization that they're with. Right now they're not, by the way, they're not critical, clearly. So you're actually holding them back from what it is that they really want. What you do is you help them find that place that really needs the skill or the passion that they have. Yourself, what do you really want? You want to not have a difficult conversation? Well, cognitive behavior therapy, the best way to get over that is to actually have one and realize it's not that bad. Then the rest of the team, they feel sad because their teammate left. Well, here's how you solve what they really want is they want to know that... They want to release their emotions. Okay, great. Listen to them, let them share their emotions, let them share the sadness that they feel, and then it's released out of their body. Decision is one thing, implementation is completely and utterly separate. That's the same thing here in letting someone go. But if you let them go kindly and humanely, the key is, in my opinion, you become their agent, like Michael Ovitz, the CAA agent. You help them find their next job actively. Michael Ovitz is the one who reaches out to employers for his clients and says, "Hey, do you have work for my client?" That's what I mean by being agent, not by, if you need a reference from me, I'll be happy to give you reference. That's bullshit, that's passive. I'm talking about active, and it doesn't take long. ?" That's what I mean by being agent, not by, if you need a reference from me, I'll be happy to give you reference. That's bullshit, that's passive. I'm talking about active, and it doesn't take long. Maybe one to two hours of my time reaching out to people I know saying, "Hey, I've got this great person." Oh my God, of course they're going to pay attention. Of course, they're going to react. Now you might say, well, wait a second, what if the person isn't great? What if they're a bad performer and my posit is that they're good at something. You have to find out what it is they're good at. And really what they're good at is what they're passionate about, so find out what they're passionate about and that you can recommend them for. That's what I do. I think for almost all managers that aren't good at letting go, it's because A, they've never done it, or B, they've done it badly. They didn't help the person, and that person then went off and had a very painful time and now hates that manager. But if you actively help that person, they will appreciate it. Now, there are situations when a person says, "Screw you, I don't want your help." Okay, but they still recognize that you offered. Who's the best person at firing that comes to mind when you think of this person's really good at this?…

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