That is not the way it works everywhere. In some industries the company's assets go down the elevator every night - Wall Street in the prime example. Certain employees (bankers, traders and sales people) bring their own book of business . When they walk out the door the business goes with them. They become commodities and, in the final analysis, trade to the highest bidder. You can't stop it with all the management skills in the world.
Pros never call their competitors - they need plausible deniability. They are all known to head hunters and it only takes one word to get your name out there. Head hunters or, in sports, agents do the first contact.
Here's the deal
- You can only put the gun to the firm's head once. After the first time, they will prepare a contingency plan and will have people in the bull pen. Senior management will all of sudden start showing up at events where your clients are and will attempt to build relationships above you. You will all of a sudden have an assistant to "help you". They will start making sure that if you leave they can retain as much of the relationship as possible. We need to have a succession plan in place now. I would be happy with either Hackett or Shafer.
- However, in this situation, I do not know how it is possible to come to any other conclusion than Doug wants out. He is simply being marketed too heavily and taking every interview he can. If this were a leverage play one interview would suffice.
- Some things cannot be undone. This is one of them. I, for one, was among those that felt we had to have more patience with Doug because he was committed to SU and we needed to return that commitment. There was a feeling of a special bond to an alum that told us this was his dream job. That is gone now and it will never be the same. It can be good but never like it was.
- This has to come to an end soon. This kind of time delay would never be tolerated on the street because of the damage it does to morale and the fact that the sharks will start circling your other assets - coaches, recruits etc.
I am convinced that Doug is either gone or will be gone. Either way, we need to get our heads out of the sand and prepare for that eventuality.
I will be forever grateful to Doug for returning the program to respectability and will root for him at whatever NFL team to which he goes.
The program is healthy and will survive but we need to get this behind us soon.
