The Value of Speaking Up After Being Knocked Down
Lessons from Reading LinkedIn Posts, Not Just The Glitzy Ones
Thanks to an earlier post a week ago by fellow LinkedIn member, Erin Gallagher, I alluded to it in my own post on Wednesday, this was the path I went down for today’s piece. It’s a bit disjointed at times, but I hope by the end it pulls itself together. Keep in mind that Ms. Gallagher is a well-known, CEO/Founder with over 75,000 followers and I’m a mere advertising hack with just under 9800 bored followers. I owe her a big thanks for the assist.
Plus, we are both from Chicago, that should count for something.
Jumping into what I hope is the meat of this, since March of this year I’ve noticed an alarming amount of qualified advertising industry employees being let go, quitting or having their jobs all together eliminated from the planet. They all talk about it, under their own names here on LinkedIn. Good for them. That takes guts, especially when you don’t have anything else lined up. Plenty of reasons given such as “we’re moving in a different direction” (of which you are clearly not a part of), “we’ve eliminated your position” (easier than saying we hate you and you’re finished effective immediately) and finally my favorite “things just aren’t working out here" (again, we hate you). In any case, whether you are expecting it or not, you usually aren’t, or you flat-out stink at your gig and you deserve to be let go, it just never feels good. And we usually never, ever see it coming.
But one of the worst aspects of being let go from your job, regardless of the reason, is when those doing the head-chopping begin to reprimand you just as they are giving you the bad news. As if it’s your fault. They couldn’t even wait until you’ve left the building or hung up on the zoom call.
Trust me on this, being let go from a gig is usually not your fault. There are a million reasons why jobs fail, but most of the time it’s not the employee’s fault. Usually, it’s due to previously made decisions that occurred well above your chain of command and you take the fall. Sometimes it’s jealousy, sometimes it’s because if you’re in sales and you are making more than your managers do, sometimes they just overpaid you at the start which in many cases made it impossible for you to succeed.
But as it’s happened to many of us, it’s usually because we just stuck around a wee bit too long. Whether it’s only 10 months or 10 years, as Akiva Levin from Butterfly Effect said on a very popular LinkedIn post earlier this week “if you don't leave a toxic environment, YOU become the toxic environment.”
Levin warns that “A toxic workplace is like a shoe that's too tight. It's uncomfortable, and you know it's not good for you in the long run. The best solution would be to change it, but sometimes you can't immediately.” Most of us knows this, but when we are in the middle of it, just can’t quite pull the trigger. Many times, we are afraid. Many times, we have no idea that all along we were being abused.
I don’t know Mr. Levin, but I’m happy that I found his post and connected with him. It obviously resonated with others as close to 60 peeps commented, 41 reposted post and over 730 of is nodded our heads yes. Those are some hefty responses.
Likewise, I encourage you to friend up Bridgette Tharp, we’ve been connected on LinkedIn since Feb 2021. Her most recent post from 3 days ago admitted that “… I was fired from a job that I honestly complained about too often, but somehow, I was still jolted by the news.” That was over 16 months ago. Her advice for fellow peeps is
“If you are in marketing and you are experiencing this too, remember how resourceful you have to be in order to do great things in marketing. Tap into that.”
Ms. Tharp’s story is not uncommon these days, especially for women in the advertising industry. I hope you read her post too, as I’m a sucker for smiling dogs with their equally happy owners. That says a lot about their hearts.
Ms. Tharp he would be an exceptional hire. Please read her post, it may serve as a huge help in your future.
Finally, there’s Emmily Maduro who I had the pleasure of meeting a few weeks ago while attending AdExchanger’s Programmatic IO Conference in Las Vegas. There was Ms. Maduro, hustling around the event, introducing herself, asking questions, talking about her company’s product. Very impressive, so impressive that she inspired me to up my sales and marketing game during my time there. I was probably twice her age.
Shortly after the conference, as Ms. Maduro and I kept in touch, she texted me that she had been let go from her company. She too said she was blindsided but understood that events like this seem to be happening more often. Her attitude was astounding and soon after this she was hired by another company, this whole scenario taking place over just a few weeks. Good salespeople don’t stay on the sidelines very long. Her story is a happier one and you may want to connect with her as well, especially if you are thinking of making a move or were recently let go.
It's been that kind of week. While my LinkedIn feed has mostly been posts and lovely photos from the Cannes International Festival of Creativity attended by a slew of my friends and contacts, it was these three posts that stuck out. Honest, heartfelt, sharing important work-related and sometimes painful issues, I applaud those who can stand naked in front of millions of LinkedIn peeps.
Community comes in all sizes and flavors, and we should embrace it all, the good, the bad, the glitzy and even the tragic. Stay close, my friends.