When Fortune Reclaims One of Your Best People
You made it.
You’ve assembled an amazing team, and it’s firing on all cylinders. You can finally step away from training new hires and watch your people confidently demonstrate their competence. They handle complex situations without you having to jump in. You feel proud.
Then a core member of your team quits.
Crap, you think.
You’re genuinely happy for them - they’re moving on to bigger and better things - but it also means you’ll have to step in and work two positions for a while. There’s no way around it.
You can’t just hire anyone. Butts in seats is the worst decision a leader can make. It’s far better to leave a position unfilled than to hire the wrong person and pay for that mistake later.
This is the moment I remind myself that everything in my life is on loan from Fortune. Fortune introduces incredible teammates into my life - and then, inevitably, snatches them away. That part isn’t under my control.
So what is under my control?
First, I can work to create an environment that makes people think twice before leaving. I can strive to be the kind of leader people want to work with - the kind they’ll follow, not just tolerate. The kind of leader that fosters growth of amazing people that Fortune decides to being into my life.
Second, I can refuse to give in to the story playing in my head:
I can’t believe I have to work two positions for the foreseeable future. Why is this happening to me? I can’t believe so‑and‑so is leaving me. I put so much work into their growth!
Here’s the reality: nothing bad has happened. A person left. The work still needs to get done. That’s the data.
For this situation to become bad, I’d have to give in to stress and anxiety. I’d have to resent the additional responsibilities or avoid them altogether.
For this situation to become good, I’d have to celebrate the person’s accomplishments, pick up the necessary tasks without complaint, and set the next person up for success.
Leaders can’t control what Fortune brings into their lives - but they can always control what they do with it.