What does Bob want to learn? Can what he wants to learn be useful to the company? My interpretation on the comment, sounds very similar to my co-founder, who i

What does Bob want to learn? Can what he wants to learn be useful to the company? My interpretation on the comment, sounds very similar to my co-founder, who is an absolute learning machine. For Bob, he clearly picks things up quickly, but from the sounds of things, they aren't extremely challenging tasks, and Bob sounds like the kind of guy who could benefit from going deep on something challenging, if that is what they want. I guess my question is, if your company isn't able to provide the type of environment where Bob can thrive, why do you want him there? Wouldn't it be better to help Bob find a job where he is adequately challenged, where he can grow into someone truly exceptional? Yes, it's difficult letting good people go, but if you as an employer can't provide enough challenging work, then you need to do the right thing. Think of it like a sports coach. If you've got the best player in the college league, and you know if you can just keep this player, you'd win the championship for the next 10 years, would you keep the player? Hell no! You'd figure out how you can help them get to the majors. What do they need to do to get there. Either be or find a mentor for Bob to help him find his place in this world. The worst thing would be for Bob to look up from his screen in 20 years, and think he could have been so much more. If you were to have a conversation with Bob in 20 years, and you're looking back at what he had accomplished, did he continue working with you through that time? And if he did, was he happy with that? Or were you able to help him move onto something bigger, and what amazing things did he move on to?