Has the tech industry figured out their talent debacle yet? Or are they making the same mistakes?

If it's a client you want to work with and this is part of the client's requirements then yes, you should allow this or politely decline the business. The client has the right to ask for anything and you have the right to approve or decline. I ran an offshore software services company in Costa Rica after being a Division Manager at Cognizant and now I advise and work with 50 software companies in 25 countries and this is a common request that is complied with. This isn't to say you shouldn't make the reasonable argument that it is preferred that interviews are conducted just with team leads who will then vet and manage the rest of the team. Even though you recruited, vetted, hired and trained your employees, the client wants to validate that your standards and definitions of capabilities are in line with theirs. That is a reasonable exercise assuming you want the business and you feel that this investment of time and validation will lead to a long, fruitful relationship.

It's great that this employee has been transparent about the fact another company wants him. The problem is that this employee is ambivalent about his connection to your Company. Really, under 100 employees at least, this is unacceptable. I would first reflect on why you think he's looking elsewhere. Then, I'd ask him that, admitting that you have failed to create an environment in which he has stayed engaged and motivated on what he's working on. If his answers seem reasonable and you can commit to making the changes necessary, then you won't need an employment contract, he'll stay on his own desire, because you listened to him and improved his situation. If his requests seem unreasonable or you know you won't be able to make those changes, fire him *today.* This situation can contaminate your entire company quickly. Yes, swapping someone out will always be a bit of a setback, but you want *everyone* on your team, feeling motivated and excited by what they're doing. It sounds like you're making your decision out of fear (having to find and hire another engineer) versus what's best for the Company, long term. Happy to talk to you in a call. Problems like this are within the sweet spot of my skills and passion.

"What was the best part of you day?" Ideally you could ask in the afternoon .. but it sets a positive intention. I ask this to all my friends + wife everyday when I see them.

Don't worry about the fact that you "failed". What you presumably did is work hard, and learn a lot, and probably created some quality stuff, regardless of whether it ended up being published. That's usually all your potential employers will care about. The people that work for companies that end up going out of business aren't considered failures. They generally produced quality work but their company may have just not been able to find / convince the right customers, which is equivalent to you not having found the right publisher. This is an optimistic way to look at it, but that doesn't mean it's not true in your case. I would publish whatever unfinished books you have on Amazon as e-books. Make a title and cover image. That way they're 'published' immediately, and each book will even get a DOI and/or PMID #. Then you can continue to edit them and finish them whenever you have time (see: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/A2KRM4C8E91086). Meanwhile, if you have other non-book writings, try publishing them as guest-blogger posts on other people's existing blogs. best of luck, Lee

I would be curious to know why you feel it is important to use personality testing. I have hired over 20 sales reps and I have never used any testing. I have conversations with my hires because that is going to tell me more about their personality any day than a test. Plus you might eliminate someone because of a test score that could be a great fit for your organization. I have a pretty strong process for hiring sales people and could share with you my steps and even the questions if you would like.