Big Mouths

So, we were close to finishing a $100K/yr deal with this other company. I heard through another person whom I used to work with that another company was also going to license the technology. There were stalls and delays and stalls, and eventually it becaue "public" knowledge that the other company had the technology, and we killed the deal.

What am I trying to say from this example?

Don't be that guy who leaked. He cost his company a good strategic hit against us. We got rid of him from our company becuase he had a big mouth, but are sure happy he works somewhere else. Probably his new company will figure out that he has a big mouth as well, but in the mean time I am happy. He will never get promoted. He won't get really anything special at all. Many of us are happy he exists though, as we will continue to get info we shouldn't.

My policy... buy the beer but keep your mouth shut. It isn't anyone else's business. If you knew me, you would not beleive me, as I am loud and and talk a lot. Much talk, not much said. Knowing when to keep mouth shut and not fill a silence or not stop someone else from telling you something useful by interrupting is something I continue (and probably always will) work on.