Love It, Don't Leave It

I left for a better opportunity.

—Said in thousands of exit interviews

Sometimes people say it on their way out the door just because they don’t want to burn bridges. In other cases it’s the truth—they leave in search of opportunities. They want to learn new skills, take on more responsibility, use cutting-edge technologies, or have other (or more) career options.

Many of their managers say, “We could have offered that. Why didn’t he/she tell me?” Yes, most managers could have asked their talented people what opportunities they wanted, but most employees who left also could have spoken up and asked for what they wanted. If they had, they might ...