Employees Leave Leadership, Not Organizations

Jim was a long time employee at the Quiggly Wiggly. He spent nearly his whole career building the business for the owner and was quite successful and good at what he did; however, there was a problem: the structures he was working within stifled  his creativity and left him feeling helpless. He kept pushing for a succinct marketing campaign to bring more business to the local grocery store, yet the business owner had no such aspirations. With that, Jim left the Quiggly Wiggly to run a start-up organic grocery store for less pay and longer hours. Why did he leave?

Jim did not leave because he did not enjoy working at the Quiggly Wiggly itself, it stemmed from a lack of leadership. The myopic vision of the leader did not allow for growth which caused his greatest and most successful employee to leave. Organizations such as the Quiggly Wiggly that have weak leadership are left with employees who are uninspired, unproductive, and the bottom of the barrel. The talented employees leave to seek leadership that is definitive and have direction. Therefore, employees leave leadership, not organizations. Leaders, what are you doing to foster the growth of your employees?