An industry colleague resigned his position today, after a significant stint at his company. With his departure, his company will actually be losing more than a single employee – they’ll be losing a significant marketing asset, in terms of both institutional knowledge and external influence.

The shame of this loss is that it would have been easy to convert into a marketing win – regardless of whether my colleague stayed at his company or not in the longer term.

Internally, “John” was well respected and well versed in best practices. He saved the company from repeating marketing mistakes. But arguably more importantly, externally, John was socially well connected in the industry. If his company had made even a minimal effort to show John appreciation and respect, he would have been an excellent evangelist for the company during his “off hours”. John’s annual salary couldn’t have paid for the word of mouth marketing that he would have done.

Alas, the company viewed John as a resource, not a person. The result is that despite a civil relationship, and significant contributions by John, he never felt any particular love for the company – and finally resigned in search of more fulfilling work.

What a waste.