I just had a disturbing conversation. I had heard that someone here whose work I
respect -- call her Olivia -- was leaving the company as of Friday, so I stopped
by her office for further details and to tell her I was sorry to see her go. This
industry has high turnover across the board, so just the fact that someone is
leaving, no matter how well-respected, is no cause for alarm.
In this
case, though, she's leaving because she can't agree with the direction the company
has taken. She had gotten bad feelings about it, then confirmed her hunch by
taking a seminar the CEO of our company has been giving, and hearing his views for
herself. Olivia did not go into detail, for which I am glad; this is the
sort of thing each person has to decide for herself. I have not attended the CEO's
seminar; I have heard ideas I disagreed with from our general manager, but have
been pleased lately with the directions taken by the VP to whom I report. I'm
getting useful experience and learning a lot just now, too.
So I'm
not in any hurry to start sending out feelers, but this is definitely a
development to watch carefully.
One hour later: I just got an email from one of our best and most senior people
announcing his two weeks' notice. Uh-oh.