I Am (Now) A Killer

Today, I drove out to the western MA location of the agency I run and laid off five of 12 people. Sales are down, costs are up, these people are not working as effectively as we need them to. One, a salesperson, completely fucked us by not performing.

If I didn't take such drastic action we'd probably be out of business in a matter of weeks.

On the ride back, I began thinking about all the times that I was laid off and all the times that I saw my own performance as slow by comparison to "killers" who seemed to wait for no apologies or accommodations in meeting their goals. If I had executed a similar lay-off a month ago, we'd be in better shape now.

But, I waited for something better to happen.

Killers dont compromise. They may collaborate or cajole, but in the spirit of quickly moving things forward. 24 hours ago, I came to the conclusion that I had to take action. Last night, I had built consensus from the team who will remain.

This morning, I delivered the news to everyone. Monday we start fresh.

Today I became a Killer and I'm never going back.