The Open Transition Program
Replace two weeks' notice with two to three months of honest, open exit.
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
Glazer changed how people left Acceleration Partners — a policy that became his TED talk. Instead of the two weeks' notice ritual and the pretend doctor's appointments, employees could opt into an open transition: they keep doing their current job for two to three months while openly looking for a new one, with fully open discussions throughout. The rationale is both cultural and commercial. Culturally, the leaving part was inconsistent with the culture they wanted, and making it safe to leave made it safer to join and raised buy-in. Commercially, in a client service business the fastest way to lose a client is an account manager vanishing overnight — better to have the departing person there half-time while you slide in and recruit their replacement, preserving continuity for the client. Glazer found it in the moment and only later, doing his values work, understood it as his 'respectful authenticity' value made into policy.
Origin
Glazer thought the whole process of people faking doctor's appointments and giving two weeks' notice seemed crazy and asked whether there could be an open transition program with more honest, open discussions instead. He built it, and it became his TED talk. He notes the irony that he did it by accident and only recognized it as an expression of his 'respectful authenticity' core value after doing the values excavation.
Core principles
- 01The leaving part of employment should be consistent with the culture you claim to build.
- 02Two weeks' notice and fake doctor's appointments are a mutually dishonest ritual.
- 03Making it safe to leave makes it safer to join and increases buy-in.
- 04In client service, the number one thing that angers clients is an account manager leaving suddenly — sometimes unrecoverably.
- 05A half-time departing employee overlapping with their replacement beats a clean, sudden exit.
How to run it
- 1
Name the dishonesty in your current exit process
Notice the fake doctor's appointments, the taboo around leaving, and the two-week scramble. Ask whether that's consistent with the culture you say you're building.
- 2
Create an opt-in open transition
Either side can raise it. The employee says 'this isn't working, I want to do something different' and the answer is 'great, you can work here for a few more months and go find another job.'
Pro tip Opt-in in both directions keeps it a conversation rather than a soft firing.
- 3
Set the window at two to three months
The departing person keeps doing their current job while openly job hunting, with totally open discussions throughout.
- 4
Overlap the replacement on the account
Use the window to slide in and recruit the successor while the incumbent is still there half-time, keeping the client relationship continuous.
Pro tip Half of a departing account manager plus a warm handoff beats a full-time stranger arriving cold.
Watch out Sudden account manager departures are the number one thing that angers clients — and sometimes you don't recover.
- 5
Let the safety compound into recruiting
Publicize the policy. Making it safe to leave demonstrably made it safer to come work there and increased buy-in.
In the wild
Glazer's illustration: rather than an account manager vanishing, they'd much rather have Hala there half-time while they start sliding Ben in, get him on the account, and recruit him — keeping her there in some form for consistency even while she's job hunting.
→ Better for the client and better for the team than a clean two-week break, and it protects the account revenue.
Glazer's discomfort with the two-weeks-notice ritual became the open transition program at Acceleration Partners, and then his TED talk and the book Two Weeks Notice.
→ The policy made it safer to join the business, improved buy-in, and became a public platform for the company.
Common mistakes
Treating exits as betrayal
Making leaving taboo produces fake doctor's appointments and sudden departures — you get less honesty and worse client continuity, not more loyalty.
Optimizing offboarding for the company instead of the client
In client service, the relationship is the asset. A clean, fast exit protects nothing and risks an unrecoverable account loss.
Announcing the policy without the open discussions
The mechanism is the honest conversation, not the notice period. A three-month window with the same taboo attached is just a slower version of the same problem.
Is it for you?
Best for
Client service businesses — agencies, consultancies — where account continuity is the commercial asset and sudden departures are expensive.
Not ideal for
Roles with security or competitive-information sensitivity where a long, public notice period carries real risk.
From the transcript
“This whole process of people saying they have doctor's appointments and two weeks notice seems crazy to me — could we have an open transition…”
“Having that policy made it safer to come work at our business.”
“The number one thing that pisses off clients in a client service business is their account manager leaving suddenly and sometimes you don't recover.”
From the episode
Robert Glazer: The Proven Decision-Making Framework High Achievers Use to Unlock Fulfillment
Robert Glazer