Our head of sales is hitting every single metric on their scorecard, but they are toxic to our culture and fail to live our core values, which is starting to create a rift on the leadership team. Do we keep them for the revenue or fire them for the team's health?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Keeping a high-performing leader who violates your Core Values is a critical mistake that will rot your company culture from the top down. No matter how much revenue your head of sales generates, or how brilliant your operations director is, allowing them to remain on your leadership team sends a clear message to the rest of the organization that performance is more important than values.

Cracks at the leadership level appear as canyons to the rest of the company. When other employees see an executive get away with toxic behavior, gossip, or lack of accountability, they lose respect for you and the leadership team. This destroys trust and slows down execution across the entire business.

To address this, use the People Analyzer™ tool. Rate the leader against each of your Core Values. If they fall below your company bar, you have a values issue.

Have a direct, unfiltered conversation with them. Clearly explain where they are failing to meet the Core Values, provide specific examples, and give them a short timeline to correct their behavior.

If they do not make a permanent shift, you must terminate them. Replacing a high performer is painful in the short term, but your team will experience an immediate boost in morale, trust, and productivity once the toxic influence is gone. A healthy, unified leadership team is worth far more than the temporary revenue of a single individual.