For many leaders, one of their toughest decisions can be whether to fire one of their direct reports or not.

And an even tougher decision can be whether to "fire themselves” by seeking a different job with their current employer, taking another job elsewhere, launching their own enterprise, taking a completely different direction with their career or even taking a sabbatical and touring around the world.

These actions can be hard enough to take during "normal” times when distraction and compassion might well save the job of someone, who is seriously underperforming. Or at least delay the dreaded day.

And under regular circumstances, leaders might also be too occupied with the "busyness” of their day-to-day work and frequent travel to take time to stop, breathe, reflect and act on an underlying sense of restlessness, envy or desire for something better or new in their own career and life outside.

But everything is different now as the COVID-19 pandemic has already forced many people to abandon their offices, work from home, shelve big projects and spend a lot more time with the very people who are most impacted by their career choices.

And there is another bitter consequence of this particularly sudden and brutal global crisis. Because we have no idea how long the crisis will last and we cannot predict what the longer-term impact will be on the world of work, some good employees will have to be let go or at least furloughed.

This is not because they did anything wrong. It may just be because their job is not as important as others during this difficult time. Or even because they were the most recent hire.

It is clearly not fair or easy to fire a solid performer but if so, accountable leaders must: