Kudos in your honesty in admitting some fault... but, why on earth, especially given your humility about the whole thing, did you fire him in the middle of the day and make him do a "walk of shame?" A senior employee who has done good work in the past deserves a little more respect than that.
Not saying he didn't ned to be let go, but there's various degrees of letting someone go and the "clean out your desk now" approach is by far the most brutal and punitive.
That's what you do to someone caught embezzling money, not a solid individual who just proved not to be a good match for the team.
You are absolutely right. I'm not going to defend what I did, but the question deserves an answer. I was caught up in my own emotions. Tom not showing up for the meeting felt like personal attack against me. That he was flaunting my "authority", shoving it in my face that he didn't need to do what I asked.
With a bit more maturity and hindsight I know that I should have waited until those feelings had passed before doing anything. That's another lesson learned -- never act when in the grip of your own emotions.
Not saying he didn't ned to be let go, but there's various degrees of letting someone go and the "clean out your desk now" approach is by far the most brutal and punitive.
That's what you do to someone caught embezzling money, not a solid individual who just proved not to be a good match for the team.