E19: Firing Execs: a Guide, with HR Heretics’ Kelli Dragovich and Nolan Church

At scaling companies. parting ways with an executive requires finesse, strategic insights, and insider experience. CJ invited longtime people leaders - and hosts of the HR Heretics podcast - to break down every facet, lever, and little known facts behind successfully exiting execs. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics Whether its due to hypergrowth or part of an M&A process. CJ, Kelli, and Nolan describe what they've seen in Silicon Valley and what to watch out for. Kelli Dragovich has been a people leader at Pendo, Intuit, Github, Looker, Google, Hired.com and more. Nolan Church was head of talent at DoorDash and the former CPO at Carta. He is now the founder of Continuum Talent (www.joincontinuum.com) --- ! Run The Numbers has a new Spotify and Apple show link. Follow the links to subscribe and ensure you'll never miss an episode  Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run-the-numbers/id1723787140  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0zQCkklNnVgMD364kCW5SV --- SPONSORS: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: HR HERETICS https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics Has HR gotten too soft? Nolan and Kelli have discussions with people leaders, founders and board members about important and underdiscussed business topics -- and firsthand stories from scaling companies. Highly recommend episodes with Molly Graham on early Facebook, Steve Cadigan on early LinkedIn, and Patty McCord on building Netflix's culture (and infamous culture deck). --- LINKEDIN: CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson/ Kelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellidragovich/ Nolan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-church/ --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (00:20) How to approach exiting a member of the C suite (02:11) How to frame and handle an executive's termination (04:19) The best way to terminate somebody (07:30) Handling compensation when terminating someone (08:49) The most likely way for an executive to leave a company is to get fired (17:20) Sponsor - Netsuite | Planful (19:40) Equity acceleration and executive exits (23:01) What is a garden leave? (24:28) Single trigger versus a double trigger clause (28:00) Sponsor - Tropic (31:52) On employment agreements (39:40) How does a board approach firing a CEO (42:10) Who is more successful at galvanizing a company: founder CEOs or professional CEOs? (46:00) What if I'm the one getting fired? This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at [email protected].