As the Microsoft workforce around the world reels from the news that 18,000 of them will be looking for new jobs sooner rather than later, I am holding everyone who has been impacted in my heart and sending out the intention that this heralds new and exciting opportunities for all of them. Watching people’s reactions has reminded me of some key lessons I learned working in the corporate world, though, I hope they serve well.

I still remember the first time I had to tell someone, as a green 20-something HR Manager in a far-off Microsoft subsidiary, that their job no longer existed after a re-organization. It was heart breaking and a huge lesson to me. At the time I was an ambitious little beaver, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and prone to “forgetting” to be home for dinner because there was always something else at work that needed to be done. I saw the raw passion for the company and its mission everywhere I turned, and had subscribed wholeheartedly to the “cult-like culture” (see chapter 6 of “Built to Last” by by James Collins and Jerry Porras). So when I earnestly informed a senior leader of the subsidiary – someone almost twice my age, earning more than twice my salary, and with a decade or more of dedicated tenure – that his business unit was being eliminated and there simply wasn’t a job for him anymore, I certainly wasn’t prepared for the epiphany of his response.

This successful, suave, executive broke down. He was devastated, repeating “But I’ve given my LIFE to this company… What am I going to do now? This company is my LIFE..” I was rendered speechless; reduced to offering tissues and repeating the comfortless availability of job search assistance.

Shortly after this, my father was laid off from his high-flying job as an executive helicopter sales professional. Again, devastation. A man, a serial entrepreneur and highly successful corporate employee, who hitherto had never indicated an understanding of the word “No”, reduced in his shock and depression to one question: “Who am I now?”

My worldview crumbled. Immutable laws of nature were suddenly questionable. I had to reframe my philosophy.

Here’s what I ended up with:

Don’t take personally the things corporations do.

Corporations, regardless of what the US Supreme Court says, are not people. They are not humans. They may be run and operated by humans, but the corporate entity itself is not human. So it’s not capable of seeing humans or relating to them – yes, the people running corporations may wield them like weapons of mass destruction, but the companies themselves are simply concepts. Since my layoff epiphany back in those HR days, I’ve taken to likening corporations to refrigerators – the healthiest way to interact with them is to put stuff in and take stuff out. You put stuff in in order to take stuff out.

Do remember the function of a corporation.

It’s to make money for its stakeholders. If it’s a publically traded entity, its job is to increase shareholder returns at all costs. This goes to the point above. It’s not personal, it’s business. Humanity is, sadly, often just collateral damage.

Don’t fall in love with a corporation.

Some corporations have intense and, frankly, amazingly seductive cultures. They employ people with passion and drive – vivacious and positively energetic beings who align themselves with the corporate mission in a way that is magnetic and compelling. It’s easy to confuse that energy with the identity of the corporation – don’t. It’s not the company you’re in love with, it’s the people and their harmonized energy. You can access that energy outside the company – invest in those relationships rather than falling for the thing that can’t love you back.

Do make sure to pursue passions outside of work.

There is a very real phenomenon in which people who worked for a company their whole lives would die shortly after retiring. They had invested so much of themselves in their lifelong career that, when bereft of that meaning and purpose, they had nothing to live for. You’ll hear a lot of talk about “work-life balance” but the bottom line here is: be a whole human being. Be well-rounded – it could save your life.

Don’t allow where you work or what you do become who you are.

There’s more to you than your job. There’s more to you than the title on your business card, the name of the corporation that employs you – while we’re at it, there’s more to you than where you live, what you drive or how much you earn. Sure, there may be some prestige associated with a certain employer or type of work, but one thing is certain: at the end of your life, it’s sure as heck not going to be the most important thing you remember or cherish. Who you are is who your family and friends love; who contributes back to society – not what you do or where you work. What are your talents, what do you love to do, what other roles do you play in your life? Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, Friend – WHO are you – not what do you do.

Do get clear on who you are, what your values are and what boundaries you will defend.

Spend some time investing in getting to know yourself. Get clear about your values, because they drive your priorities and a lot of your decisions. Knowing your values will help you be sure about what you will and won’t trade off so you can set and maintain clear boundaries. As a coach, the most frequent root cause issue I see in people who are unfulfilled or “stuck” is a lack of clarity about, and alignment with, core values.

Don’t (ever) consistently prioritize a corporation’s needs over your own or those of your family.

Bronnie Ware, a palliative care nurse, blogged and later wrote a book (called “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying”) about the most common regrets expressed to her by people at the end of their lives. Do you think “I wish I had worked harder or longer hours” features? Points for guessing – nope! In fact, here they are – check out # 2.

Top Five Regrets of the Dying

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Whenever he learned of my latest all night work effort, or when I refused to take vacation because of a work thing, my Dad always used to counsel me to go fill a bucket with water and stick my hand in it. Then he’d ask how much of a hole was left when I took my hand out. Smart man, my Dad – he clearly learned his lesson after that layoff 🙂

Do your best work anyway.

There is value in applying ourselves and doing our best work. The thing is, you need do your best work for YOU, for your self respect, for your peace of mind. A job done well for the sake of doing it well is a form of meditation and flow. It’s an expression of yourself. So do your best and then let it go.

Don’t mistake a regular paycheck and benefits for job security.

There is no such thing. Appreciate them while you have them, but do not allow them to become “golden handcuffs”. I often ask people how much their salary and benefits are costing them. That leads to some very interesting conversations. Manage your resources as wisely as possible so if that rug is pulled from under you, you can recover quickly. Wherever possible, lose the debt – stop gambling that your salary and benefits will last indefinitely. Sometimes the golden goose decides not to lay for a while.

Do regularly inventory your strengths, check your value on the market and keep your resume up to date.

This is actually a great way to boost your confidence. If you are regularly reminding yourself of your strengths and accomplishments, you know what you’re worth on the market (and what opportunities abound), and you’re ready to rock the recruiting world with your up-to-the-minute resume, it’s amazing how much more resilient you feel, and how less trapped. So do the Boy Scout thing – get (and stay) prepared. It’s insurance.

If you were just fired or layed off, your world has been well and truly rocked. I’m sorry for how that feels, I really am. Take some time to grieve the loss you just experienced. Acknowledge your feelings of betrayal, fear, anger, bereavement and more. And when it’s time – find yourself and carefully pick yourself up. Get to know your amazing, talented, accomplished self. Remind yourself that what happened to you is not personal. And then grab a hold of those bootstraps, pull yourself up and get back out there. Only this time, remember: they’re only refrigerators – you put stuff in and take stuff out. And life doesn’t happen just in the kitchen.

A final word, for managers and HR professionals who have to wield the dreaded Ax:

Do remember that these are human beings with whom you are dealing – be as respectful and compassionate as you can, without sugar-coating the message (goes for firing as well as laying off).

Don’t take people’s reactions personally – they’re going to run the gamut: anger, shock, incredulity, devastation… Give them space to react and maintain a level of detached compassion that holds space for them without dragging you into the vortex.

Do take time to work with the “survivors” who will also be experiencing some intense responses to the changes. Workplace dynamics will shift and managers will need savvy coaching to help their organizations heal in order to achieve the effectiveness originally intended.

Don’t lose your humanity. You’re all the corporation has between it and complete soullessness.



(c) Lorrin Maughan 2014