Last night, I gave it some thought about DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee firing 750 educators and aides at once, just months after terminating 100 or so educators already. And then I started thinking about something Jim Collins wrote about in his book, “Good to Great.”

I can’t remember verbatim or give it justice if I try to paraphrase what he wrote, but I can sum up what I got out of it pretty easily. When taking over a leadership position, eliminate the personnel early and build with a strong foundation of personnel than to allow the deadweight stay on, potentially acting as an anchor while you try to guide the ship in the right direction.

Collins goes into great detail explaining the science behind it. And it’s a pretty compelling if not convincing argument to lay people off early rather than later if you’re serious about resurrecting a company [or department or government or school system]. He even spares you the bad karma by explaining how letting people go early gives them the opportunities to find someone else that may be where they’re supposed to be, as opposed to remaining in a position in which is inevitable they’re going to lose.

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