Rethinking an Old Thought

Years ago, I wrote something I thought I believed. I wrote that "all negative people in an organization need to be fired". Over the years, I have not had one particular thought that has gotten more attention from my writing than that comment. Most people have weighed in with agreement. People in human resource roles have communicated appropriate concern about application of the principle in the workplace. But, the one person who has given me cause to rethink it has been my wife, Barbara.


Barbara believes, in the spirit of purposed performance, which is the operating system I authored, that I need to rephrase the thought to suggest that "all negative people need to be given the opportunity to choose" and then leaders need to follow their lead. If they don't want to be part of a positive outcome, if they don't want to be part of the team, then they need to be allowed to follow their choice to leave. I thought she was right. So, in presentations and in subsequent writings I have made that adjustment. But, now I am not so sure. In fact, I am pretty sure I am right back to my original thought.


It seems to me that leadership of organizations have the responsibility to protect their people from the disease negativity represents. I have witnessed in several situations recently the negative, if not tragic, results of people whose destructive presence have dealt critical blows to organizations. They simply have to be recognized earlier and eliminated. If they refuse to choose, then we must choose for them. The risk is too great for the people they impact.


So, I have rethought the thought that I chose to rethink. I think Barbara was right. We do need to give people the opportunity to choose. We just need to give them the opportunity to recognize the choice they are making earlier. And, they need to recognize the consequence of their choice more personally. Then, we need to escort them to the door with a letter of recommendation for future employers that says "we hope this person has the same impact on your organization that they have had on ours". Good luck. I mean, do well!