I talk a lot about the two consecutive tech layoffs that led me to the solo path.

But there was a third one, early in my career, that I often fail to mention or give enough credit.

I'll set the scene.

It was late 2008, Lehman had just failed, markets were unraveling, and there I was -- 24 years old, hitting my two-year mark at one of the big consulting firms, thinking none of the outside noise had anything to do with me and my budding career as a management consultant (ha!)

Then, that day came for 'the talk' - the performance review where they also tell you whether they're keeping you around for another year, perhaps even start talking about sponsorship to business school.

Admittedly, I had struggled a bit with projects here and there, but I caught my stride, ramped up my skills, built a decent network in the firm, truly excelled in developing client relationships (my favorite part), and I just assumed everything was fine.

Besides, I’d seen earlier classes of associates seemingly sail through this checkpoint (in better times, of course).

But alas, I was put "in transition" -- which is probably the softest way to get laid off, to be honest. You're paid for a couple more months, not staffed on client work, they make intros for you at companies where they have relationships, and help you to find your path to your next gig.

But ultimately, it's still a layoff.

And it stung.

Dec. 1, 2008, I was out, enrolling in COBRA, signing up for unemployment assistance, and found myself stalled mid-process with a bunch of companies that had all gone silent on hiring freeze due to the spiraling financial crisis.

It was all quite disorienting, especially going from a pretty glitzy setup (constant travel, first class, fancy dinners, internal meetings/retreats literally all over the world — weekend in Paris or Punta del Este anyone?) to receiving an unemployment check of, I believe, ~$289/week in Florida at the time.

But here’s what I see now that I didn’t see then:

• I learned it wasn’t really about me — sure I was likely stack ranked against others, but ultimately, layoffs are business decisions triggered by macro factors
• I learned a victim mentality isn’t helpful — assigning blame or lamenting something out of my control won’t solve my immediate problem
• I learned to separate my job from my identity — when it can all disappear in one conversation, it’s not a healthy stilt to build your life around
• I learned my floor and runway early on — aside from my fixed expenses (apartment, car, insurance), how could I scale all the way back on other spending to keep myself afloat
• I learned that the unexpected path emerges — did I ever think I’d end up working in strategy at a cruise line? Not really, but that hail-mary job secured in the bleakest of job markets set in motion a decade of my professional life in the travel industry

And maybe most importantly, when the next layoff came in 2020, I supposed I’d subconsciously built some emotional muscle memory such that the gut punch I felt that first time simply never came.

I embraced the reset button and moved on.

And when it happened again in 2022…

…I just decided to take the reins myself.

Thanks to Ashley Waddington, who invited me on her podcast Pink Slip Pavilion, got my guard down, and probed into my “forgotten” layoff and the path to self-deployment.

The full episode is out today. [YouTube] [Spotify]​

💡

-Wes