In early 2007, after nearly a decade of growth, JetBlue was struggling. A Valentine’s Day ice storm at New York’s Kennedy International Airport had stranded hundreds of passengers on the tarmac for hours and revealed glaring weaknesses in JetBlue’s operating systems. After much deliberation, the board concluded that JetBlue’s brilliant founder and largest shareholder, David Neeleman, was no longer right to lead the company. We needed a new CEO.
The author, chairman of JetBlue and an adjunct professor at Stanford, has fired plenty of people during his long career—and he’s been fired himself. In this article he outlines an empathetic approach in which the manager recognizes that he or she played a role in the employee’s failure to perform—and that this difficult conversation, which should not be outsourced to the HR department, is something a manager should strive to handle well. The person you’re firing today could become a key contact at a supplier or a client tomorrow.
Peterson offers specific steps—and mistakes to avoid—to help this tricky process go as smoothly as possible:
Don’t wait for a “firing offense.”
Do be willing to fire friends or family.
Don’t surprise people.
Do prepare and practice.
Don’t hand off the dirty work.
Do deliver the message immediately and clearly.
Don’t overexplain the decision.
Do be human.
Don’t shift the blame.
Do be generous.