Weighing Whether to Let an Employee Go? Look for Uncoachable Traits.

The following is adapted from What They Didn’t Tell Me by Jawad Ahsan.

So often, leaders hold on to people for too long because they think certain qualities are, in fact, coachable. Thinking back on my career, when it comes to the spectrum of people I’ve had to terminate, those individuals tend to occupy one side or the other.

On the one side, I’ve had people I’ve gently nudged out. By that, I mean there are people I’ve told, “Look, your runway here is not long. You should look for another job.” I do that to give them a soft landing. There are people who are typically just not cut out for the job, primarily from a skillset perspective, and there’s no other seat for them within the company.

The other end of the spectrum is reserved for those people I’m walking out of the building. You’re done. I’m taking your badge, and security is going with us on this stroll.

Invariably, the latter situations occur because of integrity violations.

I once hired a woman as a controller for a company. In the interview, she told me that she wanted to get her MBA and that she wanted the company to support her in that effort. I informed her that it was something we could look into later down the line, but first she needed to come in and do the job, establish herself, and build a good reputation. If she was able to do that, we could revisit the MBA conversation.

She agreed and took the job.

A month in, she approached me again about the MBA. She told me of her plans to apply to a program and asked again for the company’s financial support. I reminded her that it had only been a month since we’d first had that conversation and that she needed to stay focused on the job. She was off to a good start, performance-wise, but she still needed to prove herself.

Two months in, she told me she was applying for the MBA whether we were going to support her or not. She understood that it was her money she had to spend, but she was going to do it regardless.

“I’ve done an executive MBA program,” I told her. “You’re going to need more than just money. You’ve got to take time off of work. It’s an extra burden on top of what you’re doing, and you’re just starting off in this job. If this is what you want to do, it’s your choice, but I don’t think it’s your best decision.”

Three months later, she came to me and said, “Not only am I doing the MBA, but I want you to pay for it. If you don’t, I’m going to leave for a position I’ve been offered elsewhere.”

“Okay,” I said. “You should take the job.”

“No, no,” she said. “I love it here. I love working for you. I’d love to stay and make a commitment.”

She hadn’t anticipated that I’d call her bluff, but it wasn’t just about that. It was about her integrity.

“No,” I told her. “You should definitely take that job.”

I let HR know immediately that she was exiting and that we were starting a search for a new controller right away.

“Why does it feel like I’m being fired?” she asked.

“You told me that you had another job lined up and that if I didn’t give you the financial support you wanted, you were going to leave, so I’m making this easy on you.”

She continued with attempts to walk back what she had said, but in my eyes, she had committed an integrity violation. She tried to hold me hostage. That is not the act of someone with integrity.

That is a demonstration of character — something that cannot be coached.

For more advice on knowing when to let go, you can find What They Didn’t Tell Me on Amazon.

At age 29, Jawad Ahsan defined his North Star: he wanted to move up to the C-suite. A year later, he became a divisional CFO at GE Healthcare, and was soon promoted to be a GE executive. By age 34, he was the CFO of a private-equity backed SaaS company, and by age 37, became the CFO of a publicly traded company, Axon. As CFO, Jawad is responsible for leading the company’s global finance, corporate strategy, legal and IT organizations, as well as Axon’s consumer-facing business. During his tenure, Axon’s market cap has increased from $1 billion to over $6 billion.