One day my colleague Patrick’s ace executive assistant Rita gave her two-week notice out of the blue. Patrick was taken by surprise, especially since Rita wasn’t getting a significant raise in pay or benefits. Rita admitted that she was fed up because of an ongoing conflict with another colleague, Tim, who kept barking orders and demanding that she drop what she was doing whenever he needed help on his projects. Over the course of several meetings, Patrick, Rita, and Tim resolved their differences. It was a valuable lesson for Patrick, as it opened his eyes to the fact that he needed to: