At my day job, the company is talking about lay offs. It may be contingency planning. It may be reality. I won't know for sure until it happens.

My boss and I have identified one person on my team who could be laid off. This fellow is on the cusp of being fired anyways. If he improves he'll stay. He'll be fired if he does not.

The unintended consequence-- I no longer want to coach him to improve his performance. I am hesitant to spend much time with him because I'm not sure my effort will pay a long term dividend. I have many things to do. I can only afford to work on that which will grow in the long run.

And thus I doom him. He'll either be fired for not being good enough, or he will be laid off.