Happy to be of help

I received two calls yesterday and enjoyed them both. The topic was the same, but coming from two decidedly different viewpoints. The first was an invitation from some former employees to an open house. They had opened a company, hit the ground running and I am very excited for them. Great people. The second call was from an executive of the company they had left and were competing with. He wasn’t real excited for them. Why was he calling me? I ran an entity that employed these fine people and had negotiated the acquisition of it by this larger organization. An acquisition was the best course for this entity and its stakeholders for a myriad of reasons. The biggest issue was finding the right buyer. None of the most logical candidates were especially well-run and weren’t people you’d want to hang out with. We boiled it down to one finalist, who made all the right noises and appeared to be the best fit. I harbored no illusions about them. As soon as the letter-of-intent was signed, the true colors began to show. The first thing that emerged was arrogance, particularly on the part of the CEO, about how they were larger than us and would have to show us how to manage something. We were making a nice margin and they were squeaking by, so the attitude was inane. I had already decided this would be my exit point, so I didn’t have worry about future conflicts on management philosophy. But, that led to their first significant error. The agreement was that I would stay until the end of the year. The minute the final papers were signed, I was abruptly escorted to the door. They were still going to pay me through year-end, so that wasn’t the issue. I understood their thinking. They had interviewed key employees and detected confidence in and loyalty to me. They considered it an impedance and wanted a clean break. Fine, but that isn’t a smart way to do it. In every employee’s mind was the question, if that’s how they treat him, how will they treat me? They didn’t have to wait long to find out that their concerns were justified. The call from the executive began all cordial and he said he was wondering how I was doing. Yeah, that’s why you’re calling. I told him I was doing great and waited for the other shoe to drop. He finally got around to it. Trying to sound casual, he asked if I knew about the new company. I said I had received an invitation to the open house. He waited for me to elaborate, but I didn’t. So, he asked when I first found out. I inquired why he wanted to know. He said he was just curious. I already knew why he wanted to know and it was more than curiosity. They would want to know if they had grounds for a lawsuit against the former employees and maybe even me. If anyone had violated non-compete agreements, they might. I told him I had reservations about the intent of his questions and didn’t think my affairs were any of his business. That was met with a protracted silence. I did know about the formation of the company in advance because the employees had come to me. We agreed that the right thing was to not engage in anything that breached our contracts or that was unethical. It’s not like they needed my help, anyway. These are people who consistently generate good outcomes. That’s why I employed them. He finally found his voice. “So, you’re saying there’s nothing you can do for me.” “I can give you a ride to the open house.” He hung up.