According to famed Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, entrepreneurs “have to be willing to fire their mom” when it comes time to letting someone go.
Entrepreneurs are tasked with making the final decision to hire the right people to help further their businesses, but what about the unenviable task of firing the wrong people?
In an interview with CNBC co-anchor Tyler Mathisen, the “Shark Tank” television personality discussed the skillsets necessary for entrepreneurs to succeed, including how to deal with terminations and severing ties with an employee. According to small business and startup publication Inc., one of the top five problems faced by entrepreneurs is recruiting the right people.
However, in a separate article of knowing when to fire a toxic employee, Inc. cites that it’s best to resort to termination if an employee or soon-to-be former employee exhibits contagious negativity that infects fellow employees, simply doesn’t care about their job or the task at hand and nothing changes despite one-on-one talks or mentorship sessions. Even if this individual is family, O’Leary feels that, in addition to the sweat and tears, the blood put into the business metaphorically runs thicker than the blood of family.
“When you create a business and you start one, your allegiance has to be to the business first,” said O’Leary. “Because without that, all the good things you want to do are going to fail.”