edward Sansom
Aug 8, 2017 · 2 min read

I have had to fire hundreds of people in my long career. I even fired people who did not report to me if I thought I would do it more humanely.

As a direct boss my policy was three strikes and you are out. The strikes had to serious not mere mistakes. The first one I took as my fault. No one is perfect. I explained carefully when I hired what was my character, my philosophy and what constituted termination. Obviously firing someone you have hired is the acknowledgement of a mistake.

A rotten apple spoils the barrel. For a time I had a reputation of firing someone whenever I moved into a new function. Admiral Bygn who was court marshaled and shot for surrendering to the French led Voltaire to explain “pour encourager les autres. I didn’t do that. I always fired for cause.

One example. I fired a manager to whom I had delegated the task of reviewing the slides I was going to use for an important presentation. It so happened that the slides were late and I had no time to check them myself. The slides were a mess when I made the presentation and he blamed a secretary he had asked to check them. I explained why I was firing him. I said go out and close the door and come back in. I am not your boss now but a friend who wants to help you. Several weeks later he came to say goodbye. He told me his wife said thank god for John Sansom. But I am the guy who fired you doesn’t your wife know that. Yes but you were the only one who treated me as a human being after I was fired.

edward Sansom

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85 year old retired exec. Multilingual married to French wife. Retired at 48 to achieve the two freedoms - freedom from and freedom to. Photo many years ago.