Absolutely agreed. I didn't say they needed to get to personally know every employee. I said to talk with people in person. For situations such as that you've cited, things like departmental "town hall" meetings by upper managment (right up to the GM at Raytheon 20 years ago) and an open door policy from immediate management right to the GM will provide much more value than a computer program. I ask you, what will the computer criteria be for determining if a Jeff or a Gus are getting ready to leave a company? Proper management will sense it long before any computer even has enough data to suggest it.