Is headhunting corporate adultery?

It occurs to me that those city headhunters, who spend their time eyeing the skills and competencies of executives in major corporations, with a view to enticing them to jump ship and go with a more lucrative, challenging, and status-building job elsewhere, are akin to elicit lovers begging their conquests to leave the marital home.

Does any corporation benefit from the unprepared departure of a highly-prized director? The merry-go-round of pay-offs, severance deals, golden hand-shakes, and bonuses seems to get bigger as each year passes. Has anybody stepped back and thought about the vast sums swishing around from corporation to corporation only because some of the top brass are actively involved in "dating" headhunters?

"I was headhunted, you know!" is a refrain much coveted by senior personnel, as if to confirm the high regard in which this practice is held. But what of those they leave behind? Are they thought about? In some cases the "marriage" may have been difficult, so leaving posed no qualms, I suppose. However, there must be many companies who feel that their future welfare and happiness has been severely traduced by predatory seducers!

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