Leading With Emotional Courage

CHAPTER 24LET OTHERS KNOW YOU SEE THEM: 20 SECONDS TO A BETTER BONUS

Larry was a mid- to senior-level employee at Overlook, a technology company. I began to work with him while he was running a project to bring Overlook's newest technology tool to the marketplace. Despite a number of obstacles, some of which came from inside Overlook, Larry delivered the product on time and pretty much on budget. He received a solid bonus that year.

Which is why I was surprised when he told me he was leaving Overlook because of the bonus. It was the last straw, he told me. And it wasn't the size of the bonus that bothered him; he agreed it was reasonable. It was how he received it.

His manager just left the check on his chair without a word. Now you might think that doesn't sound so terrible. Why does Larry care how he received his bonus? He should be happy to have one, especially a good one. Larry must be one complicated, hard-to-please prima donna.

But he's not. More than once Larry was described to me as a boy scout, the kind of guy who would routinely stay late to help colleagues through a tight deadline. He was smart, hardworking, humble, and reliable.

In other words, Larry was the kind of guy Overlook shouldn't want to lose. So what went wrong?

To understand that, we need to understand what a bonus means. On one level, it's simple: a bonus means more money.

But it doesn't take long to get more complicated than that. If I asked you to guess which bonus people would prefer, $50,000 or ...