We made a commitment to you as an employee and it

We made a commitment to you as an employee and it will enable you to keep growing with the
company. This was the conversation I was having with the CEO and I said, “Well, wait a minute. Let me
ask you this. What's the equity package that this executive has?" He goes, “Well, what do you mean?" I
was like, “Well I would like to see direct level of compensation? Does he get a Vice President level of
compensation? Does he have a point in a half? Does he have point four percent?"
That gave the CEO pause. He's like, “Well, he does have a point in a half." And I was like, “Ok. So you're
an Engineer in your company. How do you feel about somebody who used to be the head of sales who
brought in with a point and a half? What do your Engineers get? Do they get point one percent? Point
two percent? What are they getting at this point? How are they going to feel about somebody who is
NOT the Head of Sales with one point five percent of the company?" And he was like, " Uh oh." And I
was like, “Yeah! Uh oh. Because how fair is that? Are you going to take the equity away? Are you up to
do that? Are you up to go back and take back his compensation? How productive do you think he'll be if
you take away his compensation? Secondly, will people give him the same respect now that you've
demoted him? Because they knew him as this and now he's this. "I knew you when you were Head of
Sales now you're the Regional Manager and you're telling me what the f*** to do? You're telling me I
need to make that call? It seems to me you got demoted. Who are you to talk to me? I am the up and
comer. I am going to be the next VP of Sales at the company."
All these things come into play. When you look at the end, you may think you are dealing with one
person. You may think that this is a demotion or a firing of one person. What does it mean according to
that one person? But what you are really doing is saying, what does it mean to fail on the job?
Particularly the highest paid, the highest compensated job in the company from an equity standpoint.
And then, what's required to maintain your equity? Is it good enough to put in an effort or do you have
to get a result? In different situations at different levels, the answers will be different. If this had been
a person who was not an Executive brought in from the outside, but someone you promoted past where
they should have been and didn't ever get that equity, maybe you make a different decision but you
have to understand what it's going to mean to everybody, not just the person you're talking to.
Example two: An excellent employee asks for a raise. A good employee, this isn't like the last employee.
First thing you think is they're really good, they asked me for a raise, they didn't ask me for no reason.
They asked me because they think they deserve it. I want to retain them. I want to be fair! They've
done a great job. I know that if I give them this raise, it's going to be all love coming my way. If I give
you a raise we're good. You got a raise! It's awesome.