Driving to work, you reflect on your business – and it makes you smile.

“I’m working with a terrific team that delivers excellent work and the clients are asking for more. It feels so good to have a strong team behind me,” you’re thinking. “When I don’t have to fight fires all the time, I can focus on new business and I’m killing it! Bringing in these great new clients is fun.”

As you walk into the office Nadir walks up to greet you, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Nadir is one of your best team members. When he came to you he was raw, but you’ve put a lot of work into him and now his clients love working with him. 

“Sure, let me get a cup of coffee first,” you reply. He follows you into your office anyway and drops a bomb.

“Boss, I’m quitting.”

He keeps going, talking about how difficult a decision it was, but he got this really great offer out of the blue… You don’t really hear any of that. 

You think, “This isn’t happening … it can’t happen!”*

This is a blow. It’s natural for you to go right into the Five Stages of Grief: Denial (He can’t leave), Anger (That idiot!), Bargaining (What if I give him more money?), Depression (I’m never going to find someone as good as him…), and finally Acceptance. 

“Oh, Nadir, this is a terrible shock! What happened? Where are you going?” It’s almost like it’s someone else’s voice saying it. What’s worse, he’s going to a place that is a real meat grinder. They are giving him a big raise (but still underpaying him).  You know this is a tough work environment that likely won’t be great for Nadir’s career long-term. Now you are really worked up; he’s making a big mistake and leaving your team?

What do you do? (Hit reply and tell me what YOU’D do now…)