Recently I shared the podium with an FBI agent who was asked
what frustrated him the most when trying to help businesses with
trade secret theft. His answer was a surprise: they fire the
guy too fast! He explained that when you discover someone
might be mishandling information, your most important objective is
to know what's going on, and you could learn a lot more by
keeping them around and watching what they do.
That observation stayed with me as I pondered what many have
accepted as standard operating procedure: when you are told that
someone is leaving for the competition, walk him (or her) out the
door immediately. The idea is to avoid having a provocateur
in your midst, someone whose lost loyalty might rub off on
others. But while that's understandable, it may not
always be smart, especially in the age of electronic
communications.
