We had a bit of a shock today at work. Our boss has announced that he will be leaving the company at the end of the month. Not that he's leaving for another job; it's just that one sub-project of the project that he's been managing has been pushed back by a few months, and he didn't want to stick around to see it through. Not because he's a quitter - he's been with the company 26 years and has been managing the project for the last three - but because he had already planned to go on a long mountaineering trek in the first couple of months next year and to see his wife who is doing aid work in Uganda.

He's been on very good money for the last few years so he can probably afford to do that. I certainly couldn't, most people I should think, certainly couldn't. He and I did not get on all that well when he first joined the business through a merger a few years back and I will admit that I had a serious "Oh ****" moment when I heard that I was to be reporting to him. But since then we've become, if not actually friends (we don't have that much in common; I don't find climbing to the top of mountains a turn on), certainly allies. Having used the system that I administer for many years he was also a useful ally at higher levels since he knows what good value it is. So obviously I'm not only thinking of his departure in terms of the effect on him (which will be a substantial drop in income but when retirement comes, he'll be able to look back and think that he did more than go to work each day), but on my own self as well.

It is, on balance, something that I'm pleased about in that he's putting his life ahead of his work. The place that we work is one that I have a lot of ambivalence about. What the company does is important, very important. But it's under siege with falling revenues and consequently the need to axe costs... and do it in ways that are often quite questionable. Then, as with every company in this situation, there is the need for senior management to be seen to be doing something which means restructures every few months which don't necessarily get us a single cent of extra revenue but give the appearance of dynamically and proactively implementing best practice. And the key point is... it doesn't matter how long you've been there, it doesn't matter what your loyalty level is, it doesn't matter whether you're any good, in fact... each and every one of us is seen from above as merely being a cost centre, and with stated goals of continued staff retrenchments the question isn't whether we'll eventually be cut but when as the political breeze swings around in different directions.

Business "leaders" will tell you that everything is driven by "best practice". Bull****. It's driven by who has the power at any given time, and what their particular view of the world is. This departure is therefore one that may very well impact on me at some point, but all I can do is play the cards that I'm dealt.