my employee told me “I prefer not to” when I assigned him work

A reader writes:

I am a senior manager in a competitive industry. Today I sent a cool opportunity to collaborate with a partner agency to an employee of mine who I know currently has a light workload. It would be slightly beyond the scope of what he usually does for us, but in line with his existing skills and talents. It doesn’t involve anything that would be a major shift for him — no sales, no public speaking — and should not take more time than he has available, and of course would all be on the clock and paid. He replied, “Thank you for thinking of me, I would prefer not to.”

I don’t know what to do with this. “I would prefer not to” seems like … an incredibly inappropriate response?

I think this reflects badly on him! Is that fair?

I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them).

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