Never before have I felt so rejected, defeated, inadequate, and heartbroken. Some days, I just want to cry.
I was cut from a job a year and eight months ago and still haven’t found work. I’m over 60 years old and have not gone this long without work since I was 12 years old. Yep. 12!
I’ve always worked — and never had a hard time finding work. Until now.
For the most part, I’ve managed to stay positive and keep grinding away. But rejection after rejection wears on you. After a year and eight months, it becomes a beating.
I’ve always been a hard worker and willing to go to great lengths to meet deadlines and make sure the job was done right. I’ve worked countless 24-hour shifts. Literally. Deadlines are deadlines. Several times I worked 36 hours straight only to take breaks to eat and go home to shower. And of course, I’ve worked plenty of 14 and 18-hour days.
I’m certainly not a workaholic. No. Just conscientious and committed to doing whatever it takes to finish the job by the deadline!
All my life, I’ve excelled in the jobs I’ve had. I’ve been “told” by my managers that I’m very good at my job, smart, highly energetic, coachable, and eager to learn all I can. Most importantly, I have consistently ranked among the top grouping of teams I’m affiliated with — sometimes even the top.
My temperament is one of loyalty to my companies and managers (except on an occasion that was a hostel managerial situation). One that “literally” traumatized me. One situation had been documented, the other had not.
So… it’s been hard! I don’t get the interviews I once did. I’m certain my age has played a role in some situations. How many, I don’t know. But other than that, I’m baffled.
When I was interviewing at the tail end of Covid, I got tons of interviews — a couple a week was common. Then I got a job — my last one. However, since I was last cut, interviews are far and few in between. It’s a weird market for me right now. There are jobs out there — but I’m not even getting calls for interviews. And, from what I gather, I’m not the only one.
So… some days, I’m hopeful, feel positive about the possibilities of the future. And other days, I just feel beat down and hopeless.
My attempt here is not to get pity but to connect with leaders who are responsible for employees — for people’s lives.
The decisions leaders of companies make affect beyond the man or woman who sits in the chair in the office. They are people. Someone’s family member.
Truly Human Leadership
I’m a huge fan of Bob Chapman and his Truly Human Leadership model.
Bob had an epiphany that centered around the fact that employees are someone’s child. Someone’s granddaughter or grandson. Someone’s sibling or mom or dad. He realized that, as a CEO, he wanted to treat his employees as he would want another leader to treat his granddaughter, son, or daughter.
He began running his company like that, and contrary to what he was taught in business school while getting his MBA, he began the practice of treating all employees as someone’s child — a family member. AND, IT’S BEEN A HUGE SUCCESS, NOT ONLY WITH EMPLOYEES BUT FINANCIALLY AND WITH HIS BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
My main objective
So, if you’re in a leadership position, and need to cut staff, whether it’s layoffs or termination because they're not a good fit, remember that your actions can have a huge impact and affect someone’s life. They’re someone’s son or daughter, mother or father, husband or wife.
Perhaps, think of it as if one of your family members were the one being let go, or being considered to be let go.
In my case, it’s really affected my life — and my family’s life!
I encourage all leaders to put a little more effort into weighing the options and consequences of their actions. If you need to reduce headcount, think about how you might approach the situation differently. Bob discovered that he could avoid layoffs.
If someone is not a good fit with a specific manager and their temperament — perhaps they might be somewhere else in the company. Maybe the situation in play is due for the most part to the existing environment. In a different climate, the employee might respond differently and even excel.
Bob Chapman’s company, Barry-Wehmiller, during the worst economic downturn in history outside of the Great Depression, (2008) didn’t lay off one employee. Not one. He had committed to try other ways to deal with his company’s historical downturn in business.
And, it paid off in culture AND the bottom line! The following years were record-breaking in terms of financial returns.
Click here to read an article I wrote about Bob and his leadership modality.
A couple of great quotes by Bob are:
“While getting my MBA, I was taught to use employees as functions and objects for MY success. It was all about ME and MY success. What strategies should I implement and how should I manage and manipulate functions (people) so that I could be successful as a leader? It was all about ME. Not WE. They didn’t teach leadership. They taught management: How to manage objects and functions.”
Bob realized businesses can be stewards of people’s lives and take responsibility to be a positive influence in their lives, creating cultures where people feel cared for and cared about. All resulting in a healthy and profitable bottom line.
He says, “Most businesses use people to build products and make money; we use our products to build people. We are building an organization and culture in which people can discover their gifts, grow and thrive.”
“Businesses can be a major force for good if we simply care.”
In other words, companies and businesses can be a central force for creating “good” in society and “good” in the world. And the best part from the perspective of shareholders is the bottom line improves. It’s not a theory.
His wording may sound a little silly, but think about how you as a leader can affect the communities your company is in positively. I mean, really positively.
As Bob says, “Businesses can be a major force for good, if we simply care.”
I encourage you to read Bob’s book he co-authored, titled, Everybody Matters. It’s a wonderful story of how his company addressed the Great Recession of 2008 without laying anyone off. It’s also a testament to how the “good” in human nature surfaces in tough times. How employees follow leadership’s lead engendering an environment of care and support for each other’s well-being and the well-being of their co-workers’ families.
With all said, I’m saddened that my identity is so tied up in my job and career. I’ve always dug deep inwardly and spiritually for my sense of identity — but I have to admit — there seems to be more of my identity tied up in my career than I realized.
Again, I encourage you to read my article, Leadership’s New Secret Sauce, and the book, Everybody Matters.
In the end, we’re all in this thing together. This thing we call life. Let’s help and take care of each other. It’s certainly not always easy — but in the end, what matters the most is people, family and friends. LOVE is what matters most. On their deathbed, no one ever says, “I wish I had worked more hours at the office.”
It would be nice if we could add work as a place we feel deeply cared about and can trust that leadership has our back. Bob Chapman is on a mission to educate and train leaders of the future. Here’s a link to Truly Human Leadership.
Note:
My first job was washing cars and pumping gas, eventually leading to changing oil, fixing flats, and about all the basic duties of a grunt working at a full-service gas station in the 70s. I loved it.
I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, you can support my work by subscribing. It’s free. Please click the “like” button. It helps other discover me and my newsletter.
Rhonda, you are an exceptional person and human being. I'm so grateful you're in my life.
You rock! I can see you being an overachiever in anything you do. Not only a hard worker, but a delight to be around. Actually, I bet working with you would be fun. :)
Hang in there my friend. Let the tears rip, if they may. Hugs!