A real story: A VAR hires a very senior sales leader to take charge of their move into Corporate. Everything is going swimmingly. This new leader identifies with a particular profit center leader and works closely with her to position her area for a big 2008 in Corporate.

This new sales leader meet with the President weekly. He is told on four or more occasions that the President is looking to promote a VP of Marketing. Though this sales leader thinks he is an ideal candidate, he says nothing. He decides he must prove results first.

The sales leaders goes back to the Profit Center leader and confides his desire to prove results, so he will hopefully be named as VP of Marketing. He asks for her help. Working together they can prove results.

The next week, the sales leader meets with the President, who accuses him of losing focus. When asked why, he says the desire to become VP of Marketing. This sales leader is shocked. He only mentioned it to one person.

The senior salesperson realizes he must deal with the leak, so he talks to her. She gets defensive, but they have a good productive discussion.

Later, she meets with the President and declares she cannot work with him and will not introduce him to her accounts. This was bizzare behavior.

To make a long story short, the President did nothing. He never brought the parties together to work out the problem. She never tried to address it. The problem grew worse and the senior sales leader left the company.

The moral: Fix your people issues before they bite you in the butt.