Don’t be so hasty

Applying grace in a world of numbers and profits

Not all layoffs are due to overstaffing or shrinking markets. Some truly occur for underperformance, and sometimes, grace should be employed.

In my mid 20’s, we were pitching our tech co for sale, and I had to make a trip to Japan. Timing was bad: my marriage wasn’t working but we’d agreed to resolve it upon my return. However, when I opened the door, the house was empty, everything gone, including my son. As the law did its job, I went to work every day, doing my best w/the product teams, agencies & contractors to keep it together. Shame and heartbreak kept my mouth closed to everyone.  18 mo. later, the business sold, personal issues were resolved & I felt like I’d joined the ranks of “weathering the storm,” emerging with the scars of a damaged, but sea-worthy vessel.

Shortly thereafter, the co-founder revealed my head had been on the chopping during this x as the company sought to trim resources to get a higher value. One of my peers, & a person I considered my best friend, had suggested I be let go. His reasoning was that I wasn’t performing to standard. My direct boss had agreed w/my performance but not on firing me. He was convinced something was going on in my life. One day, he’d taken me aside, asked me if all was OK & I shared. He was shocked & sympathetic. He’d been through a divorce & knew full-well the brutal, but temporary challenges associated w/a life crisis. Looking back, it would have devastated me financially, emotionally and mentally; the only thing viable was my job. It kept me sane and busy during this brutal time.

I began using the word “grace” in business & it wasn’t long before I had the opp to apply the word. A client was $40K in arrears. My attorneys wanted to sue, but I was prompted to send a handwritten a note to the CEO, essentially communicating this was unlike him, and I hoped he was ok. I got a call w/in days: his daughter had committed suicide. His wife was suicidal & in bed, work had taken a back seat w/customers & creditors alike. He was also pained that not one client, partner or person in his world had reached out to understand what had caused his own ‘storm.’ Assumptions were made, actions taken and not an ounce of grace given. He said I was the only person to reach out & offered a fraction of the amt owed, which I accepted. Today, he’s bounced back with far greater success. 

Side note: wondering abt my friend, and if I held his suggestion against him? An unequivocal NO. He’d never married nor experienced major life challenges. He was antiseptically looking at the balance sheet, my performance & drew a logical conclusion while others took the long view. The word grace wasn’t a part of his vocabulary.

Hard employee decisions are a part of business. It’s my sincere hope that for those incredible, valuable performers who are experiencing a (temporary) life crisis, that reason will prevail, and grace be shown.

Following the prompt

Faith in action yields peace

It’s been a rewarding experience to share the ‘behind the scenes’ of our lives through the subscriptions section of IG. Not wanting to distract from either this site or my mainstream IG feed, I’ve been utilizing the section to go deeper, exposing the learnings and philosophies which guide and lead us, along with silliness and average events which are a part of raising a family, running a business and of course, my other job/hobby called writing.

Leading with Faith

A major theme and constant topic of conversation in our family is faith. Most commonly, this refers to hearing and acting upon little promptings we receive. “We” in our world, means all four of us in our nuclear family. As equal children of God, we all receive promptings and inspiration, and therefore, we have parity; age isn’t a consideration: if one receives a prompting, we all take a pause, consider it and determine if it’s individual (a personal decision) or family (do we move, take a trip). When it’s a family decision, the entire team feels good about it or not, for God isn’t going to give peace to one person while excluding the others.

Taking the adventure

Let’s visit a cemetery. Why not? It’s gorgeous and peaceful

Here’s a great example: why are we being prompted to book a trip in Sept when layoffs are occurring, we are trying to launch a business and of all places, going to an area with volcanic activity? We had no answer other than peace. In the past, this emotion has led to decisions which have nearly always been inconvenient or dubbed stupid by others (although that term hasn’t always been diplomatically applied) yet were always the right ones.

Today, we are here, over Christmas break, because we followed that prompting. It’s been three days of ups and downs, just like six hours of weather, shot within 3 miles of our residence— and resembles life: clear, cloudy, blustery and beautiful.