Perhaps the hardest-hit by a cold-water firing are those who believed themselves untouchable. Former executive vice president of the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, Richard Swank, had been with Dun & Bradstreet for twenty-five years when his position was consolidated:
Certainly, being an executive vice president of the corporation and having been responsible for a very large chunk of business-nearly seven hundred million dollars of revenue-I thought I was secure. I guess I was wrong.
When executives who believe themselves too important to be downsized are, it often destroys the uniqueness they felt in being part of the organization in the first place. These people learn the hard lesson that if you derive your identity from an organization, you give the organization the power to take it away.
The Bouncing Ball Syndrome
Dave Moore, a publishing executive downsized out of the Hearst Corporation, understood that his termination was part of a radically changing business environment, not the result of any-thing he did or didn't do. He remembers explaining this new climate to his parents when he lost his job:
My parents had felt very proud telling their friends I was a VP at Hearst Corporation. During my dad's career, it was unthinkable to be fired from a corporation, so I re-ally had to explain that in today's corporate culture, being fired is not a social stigma-nor is it based on performance. the executive in this situation is able to avoid the confusion and disorientation experienced by those who are terminated and thus "forced" to become self-directed, individuals who start becoming self-directed while still in secure positions often go through wrenching experiences trying to merge their desired goals with a new career path. Allen Grossman is a case in point. A graduate of Wharton and the current CEO of Outward Bound, Grossman reached the height of his commercial career in 1980, but it took nine full years of searching before he decided where he wanted his next career to be. After fifteen years of running a family-owned national paper and packaging company, Grossman realized, "I had to go to the next plateau in order to continue having fun."
Grossman's immediate goal was to learn as much as he could about the not-for-profit sector while building a resume that would eventually enable him to take a salaried position in a not-for-profit organization. He got involved in pro bono work, handled conflict resolution in the Soviet Union and the Middle East, which resulted in an appearance on ABC's Nightline news program, and became the managing partner of a group setting up community foundations in Africa and South America. In 1991, when a board member from Outward Bound approached him about becoming CEO, Grossman recalls, "I was forty-six and had never had a job interview. I decided to get experience interviewing." Grossman's nine-year odyssey ended when that "first interview" led to an offer to become Outward Bound's new CEO.
Executives like Allen Grossman seek hands-on experience through pro bono work, volunteering, and consulting stints in order to gain the experience they will need to accomplish a complete career switch. While they avoid the confusion, anger, and disorientation experienced by those who become portable through termination, these executives find their own frustration in working two or more positions simultaneously, and in realizing how long it takes to gain experience and build a reputation in another field.
When You Are the Downsizing Agent
What happens when the directive to downsize the organization lands on your desk? Executives who serve as downsizing agents are the first to witness the immediate effects of dismantling the once-secure lifetime employment system, and are often among the first to realize that even their own positions may not be as secure as they may have imagined. Robert L. Byrne, former in-house counsel for Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, explains what it was like to be a downsizing agent:
Portable executive Ed Sanford also discovered that job permanence was a thing of the past when carrying out his assignment as a downsizing agent. After accepting an attractive offer from the CEO of a major corporation to head up and "grow" one of its divisions, Sanford quickly realized that the corporate agenda was far different from the long-term opportunity he'd been pitched at his interview. As he began cutting excess inventory and streamlining operations, it became increasingly apparent that the company planned to sell off the division he'd been hired to "grow." When Sanford successfully trimmed the division down to a lean and marketable enterprise, his job was trimmed as well.
While the downsizing agent may have the most warning that he or she will soon be out of a job, the benefit of knowing its coming is often obviated as downsizing agents are usually busy right up to their last day of employment. For those like Robert L. Byrne, serving as a downsizing agent provides the certain knowledge that the culture of lifetime employment is over, and that they, too, must plan their careers with a portable mind-set.
