“Everyone is replaceable.”

The first time you’ll hear this rationalization is when someone valuable regrettably leaves the group. The team is off because no one wanted this person to leave, so your manager gets everyone together and lays down the departed’s reasoning: “He’s been here five years, he’s looking for new challenges, blah blah.” The thing is, if any of this reasoning was the actual truth, there would be no reason to have this meeting, and your manager knows this. Which is why he finishes with, “Everyone’s replaceable.”

And he’s right. Nature abhors a vacuum. When someone vital walks out the door, you learn all sorts of interesting things about the folks who remain.