Have the Hard Conversation First

Warning. This almost destroyed my career and I learned it the hard way.

I was three months into my first management role when my boss pulled me aside. Performance reviews

were coming up and I had one employee who was consistently missing deadlines. My instinct was

to document everything and prepare termination papers. I spent two weeks building my case.

The day before I planned to let him go, I ran into him in the parking lot.

His car wouldn't start. While we waited for the tow truck, he opened up.

His mom had stage four cancer. He was driving two hours each way to help her with treatments.

He never mentioned it because he didn't want special treatment. I felt sick. Here I was ready