Quote:
Originally Posted by lapka
why have you fired him?
I mean, you hired him for certain reasons. You expect him to perform in certain way in his job and pay for that a certain salary. What exactly did the incident change on this preliminaries?
and from the points you wrote in "what is going for B". What message do you think you are sending out for your team?
I also wonder if it is good idea to put the shareholder opinion as a basis for your decisions. I mean, in my industry shareholders normally have no idea, what is good for business and are just interested in the dividends for this year.
We hired this guy because he seemed like a sensible hard working guy. He made a mistake in his personal life which spilled over into his professional life when the police arrested him at 4am for assault. This changed m perception of him being sensible.
The message i'm sending out to the team is: I don't care what people do in their personal life as long as it doesn't effect their work in a negative way. Think about what you do when your outside the office. If you live a simple & healthy life you are more likely to do well in your work in general. If you find your self in a situation which could put you in jail, then try to choose the option that would keep you out of jail, such as walking away.
Had he not been arrested he would still be in his role, but his role was a fairly marginal one anyway.
We have not replaced him and have no plans to right away.
If I fire someone I have screwed up.
Either:
1. I recruited the wrong person,
2. Created or had them in the wrong job.
3. did not give them enough support to fulfil their job
4. gave up on someone too soon.
in this case it was a mixture if 1,2 and possibly 4. Either way I take responsibility for getting something wrong.
I spoke to one of our shareholders as he is involved in the running of the business.
Would be interested what industry you work in?
It might make more sense if I explain the company share structure:
Shareholder A - 79% - Has invested over $1m, has little involvement. I might see him twice a year.
He has taken no dividends and is unlikely to any time soon. I think he's more interested in selling his shares for $30m+ in the next 5 years than taking out dividends. (VC)
Me - 9.5% - I invested no money in the startup but take a salary and run the business. Sole director. Dedicate all my time to it.
Shareholder B - 7.5% - Invested over $100k, acts as an advisor. Does not take a salary or any dividends out.
I report weekly to this shareholder and he has a good understanding of the business.
Shareholder C - 5% - Joined the company 2 months ago, he is paid a salary and is involved in the daily operations.
He was brought in to help grow the business more quickly and given some ownership so he will be incentivised for overall financial success.
None of us take dividends. Me & shareholder C are paid in salary and commission.
Any other profit is reinvested in the business to speed up growth.
All 4 of us have worked together in different roles before starting this business.
It was shareholder C who's opinion I asked at the time, and I let shareholder B know about the decision after it happened, they both agreed it was close but ok to let him go.
Picked up my new car yesterday, am very happy with it, and have just got back from collecting a new consultant from the airport who has flown in from Asia for training here in the UK. He's Mexican American Hispanic but lives in Asia.
Once we have trained him he will fly back to Asia to develop new business from the office there.
I'll be going to Norway next week for a few days to see clients and then on holiday the week after so looking forward to the next couple of weeks!