Not everybody that moved over to the new Business Intelligence Team was happy about it. One of my more valuable employees who had worked for me for years (we'll call him Prodigal) got convinced to move over to the new team because he loves trying new things and was given a bill of sale that promised a rapid rise up the career ladder, but he quickly became quite unhappy with how Il Duce was running (that is: controlling) that team, and the promotions never came. In fact, Il Duce brought people in off the street into higher positions and ignored Prodigal. This made him unhappy.
Il Duce's managing style made him unhappier.
Il Duce is big on process. Document everything. Provide detailed status reports regularly (weekly or daily, depending on how the project is doing and how he feels about you). Hold lots of meetings. Take lots of notes. Make lots of noise in the process so everyone knows how much you're doing.
By contrasts, I am big on progress. Get your work done in whatever manner suits you best. Do it well, is all I ask. Keep me informed as needed.
One of those methodologies works well for Prodigal, and it isn't Il Duce's.
Prodigal wanted to come back to my team. I said I would bring him back if I could, but I wasn't allowed to add new head-count to my staff. I was sad when he decided to leave and sadder still when he wanted to come back knowing I didn't have much of a chance to make that happen.
Or so I thought.
At the same time, another of my employees (we'll call her Jezebel) was actively being courted by Il Duce to come over to his new team. Little did I know, he and Jezebel were having an affair, illicit in every sense of the word, as it destroyed both of their marriages. (Apparently, at some point about a year ago, Il Duce wrote Jezebel a detailed and sappy love letter that her husband found and threatened to send it to all of her co-workers, me included, as I was her boss, if she didn't call off the affair. He held that over her for a while before they finally separated. Meanwhile, Il Duce left his wife and young daughter, too. All of this was going on quietly behind the scenes. Shhh. Don't tell anybody.)
Jezebel had been wanting a promotion for a while. However, the only place for her to go in my team was to a middle management level just below me. I had been wanting to create that role and fill it for some time, but another of my employees was much more qualified and suited. Il Duce tried to get me to promote her over this guy, something I successfully petitioned against (finally cashing in on the good-will I'd built up with Augustus after I moved out to the east coast), and when that failed, he decided to create a management position for her in his new team. That team only had 6 members and they already had a manager (Renfield). But Il Duce had requested to hire 30 more people (I shudder at the thought) and claimed he needed her as a second manager to facilitate.
When I found out he was going to move Jezebel over to his new team, I told him he couldn't have her unless I could have Prodigal back. I made a little noise about this which caught all of the right attention now that I was working in the corporate head office. When, Il Duce learned Augustus supported me on this, I can't imagine he was too happy with either of us. Prodigal was one of his best employees and the only one who had built anything usable for his team so far. All of the good press they'd had with upper management was because of Prodigal's work. He didn't want to lose him.
At the same time, I believe he would have done anything to get his girlfriend, Jezebel, the promotion she'd been wanting and expecting after so many nights of promises.
So Il Duce flew out to North America and met with Prodigal in person. He tried to get him to stay on his team. He told Prodigal that there were no career opportunities if he went back to my team and that the only way to advance would be to stay in new team. Prodigal said no.
More was said during that conversation, as I've been told, but I wasn't there to hear it so I won't repeat it. Il Duce doesn't like it when he doesn't get his way. He can get rather nasty about it. I've seen this first-hand. Needless to say, Prodigal left quite unhappy with him, more determined than ever to leave that team. Il Duce left quite unhappy with me. In the end I got my Prodigal son back, so I didn't care. (He's working for me again today.)
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