(Post was originally published on Linkedin after the takeover of Twitter by…well, you know who. Recent stories about mass staff reductions, where companies are now claiming the cuts are “because…AI” led me to recall my key point about corporate arrogance. ”
In the early 1990s, I was doing contract work in a DC-area data center for a telecommunications giant when the company announced massive layoffs (exceeding 10,000 job cuts globally).
This was my first experience with such a thing. Much of it was puzzling to me. For example, I didn’t understand why staff with years of service were axed, while we contractors were spared.
Also, I didn’t get how a company of that size could be so unprepared in the midst of lengthy, low-grade recession.
In the years that followed, several of my own employers (as well as some vendors, and clients…) have made extensive and sudden staffing cuts during their implosions.
Some of these organizations faced exceptionally awful economic downturns (in 2001, and 2008). Though many of their woes seem self-inflicted.
Some of the companies had leaders that did particularly shady shit. It seemed like they were auditioning to become Enron executives.
Some were victims of the Peter Principle, where leaders had risen to their highest level of incompetence, and habitually made poor decisions. This was sometimes exacerbated by the fact that some had confused their life-long privilege with talent.
A C-level executive born on third base and thinks they hit a triple is not a new thing. It’s not always a bad thing, either, as long at that person in a posh corner office can admit that they don’t know what they don’t know. If they can’t there’s probably trouble ahead.
Some of the companies were acquired, some changed their business and/or their revenue models, and eventually managed something of a turn-around.
Some no longer exist.
Though without exception, all of the contractions were preceded by an internal (and often public) display of arrogance that was weeks, or months (sometimes years) in duration. This was especially true in mid-to-late 1990s, when companies confused hyper-inflated stock prices with organizational exceptionalism.
The truth is, they were lucky. Just about everybody was lucky during that time period, ffs.
While I don’t know exactly what’s happening inside Twitter, or other companies that recently announced large reductions in force, I’m getting a vibe based on what I do know, and what I’ve previously experienced.
I suspect that many employees who have been let go, (or resigned after receiving Twitter’s ultimatum memo)are experiencing an emotional mashup that includes both a huge of sense of relief, and some indescribable levels of anxiety.
I’ve been through that a few times (usually beginning during the holiday season), sometimes with skimpy severance packages (if any at all). I have great empathy for those who are enduring similar situations.
Though I have not experienced a layoff in several years, I try not to forget what it was like. I didn’t always handle things well. Attempts to focus on pleasant moments, such as baseball, vacations, memories of comic books, biking or my son’s arrival…were often promptly overwhelmed by pervasive feelings of gloom and doom.
I also try to remember the smirks among the organizational leaders in the months prior to a swift, and sudden contraction.
