canyonwalker | 12½ Months of this Clown Show (They Fired My Boss, part 2) (Reply)

This morning my boss was unceremoniously fired. I had a mixture of thoughts in the moments after I got the news. To keep things simple and brief in a journal entry earlier today I shared just two thoughts, one optimistic and one of concern. Pretty quickly after that, though, my thinking coalesced. And the key thought I landed on is this: What a fucking clown show my company has been over the past 12½ months.

Here are Five Things:

12½ months ago is when the company had a big, poorly conceived and unprofessionally executed layoff. It came as good people were already choosing to leave the company because it was strategically adrift. And the poor way the layoff and some of the other personnel changes around it were conducted caused another round of good people choosing to leave.

Four months ago we had another layoff in Sales. That layoff cut pretty hard as we were already a trimmed-down team from January's cuts. Several really solid people were dismissed— people we needed. We knew we were already running lean; that cut left us feel like we had only a skeleton crew— and even the skeleton was short a few bones.

Another wave of departures came in late November and early December. That included several really good people leaving because they were frustrated with poor leadership, plus a few poor leaders who were finally (but almost too late) being pushed out.

My boss was not dismissed over any misdeed nor any lack of competency or results. In fact he was working diligently on a number of fronts at the same time, demonstrating a far-above-average ability to multitask and add value to the teams he served. It was just a reorg. But really, in any sane reorg they should've promoted him, not canned him. Oh, and they canned him while he was on a trip 1,500 miles from home they invited him to attend and present at. They gave him the unkind news this morning and told him to get a flight home a day and a half early. What heartless bastards.

The regional sales VP I report to is now the fifth different manager I've had in 12½ months. And this RVP is someone I filed an HR complaint against in the past. An HR complaint that was never fully resolved... though HR considered it resolved because Management answered them. And an HR complaint for which my boss at the time retaliated against me by citing it as an example of "poor teamwork" in my performance review!

Ironically last night over dinner I discussed with my spouse what it would take to make me stay with this company. Recall two months ago I chose the date I would tender my resignation. That day is just over 4 weeks away now! While I chose a specific date for specific reasons I also allowed that I could change my mind. Last night we discussed what it would take— what the company would have to offer me to counter my resignation. With this move today my list of requirements just got sterner.