When an employee leaves for a competitor, the employer's instinct is to reach for the non-compete. This article explains why that instinct is usually wrong, and what actually works instead. It covers what a trade secret is under federal and state law, why the "reasonable measures" element decides most cases before anyone reaches misappropriation, and why a customer list can be a protected secret in one case and public information in the next. It explains the three families of restrictive covenant — non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality — and why they are enforced very differently, with non-competes now void or narrowly limited in a growing number of states. It covers the inevitable disclosure doctrine and its uneven reception, the whistleblower immunity notice that most employers still omit, and the forensic work that decides these cases. It closes with what a departing employee should do, and what an employer should do in the first seventy-two hours.