By Bill Bittner, President, BWH Consulting
My father was an accountant for DuPont. The plant manager where he worked attended the same church. One Sunday, my father jokingly asked how the manager justified his high salary compared to all the PhD's working in the research department. The plant manager answered, "When those PhD's put two atoms of hydrogen together with one atom of oxygen, they know they're going to get water. When I take two people from over there and one person from somewhere else and put them together, I can never be certain what I will get. That's why I get paid the high salary."
A recent management decision reminded me of the uncertainty managers face. In this case, a senior manager decided to leave and there were two eligible candidates for promotion into his position. One candidate had worked for the company for over 20 years, was well respected by both his peers and his direct reports. His managers were sure he was a "lifer."
The second candidate had worked for the company a much shorter time, he was respected by his staff and peers but certainly did not have the same breadth of company understanding as the first candidate. Management felt the second candidate was more likely to leave if he were skipped over for the promotion.
So the decision was made to skip over the lifer. When he asked why, he was told, "You are too important where you are."
You know where this story is going. The lifer left and took all his knowledge with him. Just as importantly, the people around him were taught a lesson about loyalty.
Discussion Question: What factors do you think need to be taken into account in situations such as this where companies are dealing with an internal promotion decision involving older versus newer talent?