"Turn and face the strange changes..." - David Bowie
"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige
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We have written in this space before of the anachronism that is your intrepid scribe's working life. Essentially, the twenty-eight years of that career have been spent with Mother Bell, in one of many incarnations: New York Telephone, NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, and Verizon.
Absent some last-minute intervention, that will come to an end some fifty hours from now. Due to the effects of a reduction in force (RIF), a determination has been made that my services will not be required as of the close of business on August 5, 2011.
Those are the facts, and as it has always been my goal in this space to support one man's opinion with reasoned argument, I want to try to reflect without bitterness, and, hopefully, with a bit of good humor.
Twenty-eight years is a long time to do anything, especially within one corporate culture. Like anyone, I have done some things well, some things less well, and some things I wish I hadn't done at all. Hindsight is at once a remarkably useful, and a remarkably dangerous tool at times like these.
I have very few regrets. I've had the opportunity to travel a bit, and to support a family and home that I love deeply, and that is directly due to the stability that my time with Ma Bell has afforded me. I have made many lasting friendships in my time here, and I truly cherish all of them.
It has also been a pleasure to witness firsthand and up-close the change wrought by the coming of the Information Age, for my money the single greatest technological leap in human history. Without the network advancements put forth by my industry, those changes simply would not be feasible, and it has been a privilege to take a very small part in that.
Like any corporate culture, that of Verizon has undergone great change over the past thirty years. Divestiture, merger and acquisition, and the inherent advancement of the industry made such change inevitable. It's very easy for an individual observer to take a position that such change is "good" or "bad"; the truth (to me, anyway) is that it's far more intellectually honest to assess the changes individually, and with the perspective of what was happening at the time, rather than in hindsight. I'm of the opinion that the general calculus of business as a whole has changed so radically in my time that to take any other point of view would be sheer folly. The notion of "lifetime employment", fairly commonplace within my own lifetime, simply does not exist any longer, and even the most casual of observers can see that.
"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige
********
We have written in this space before of the anachronism that is your intrepid scribe's working life. Essentially, the twenty-eight years of that career have been spent with Mother Bell, in one of many incarnations: New York Telephone, NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, and Verizon.
Absent some last-minute intervention, that will come to an end some fifty hours from now. Due to the effects of a reduction in force (RIF), a determination has been made that my services will not be required as of the close of business on August 5, 2011.
Those are the facts, and as it has always been my goal in this space to support one man's opinion with reasoned argument, I want to try to reflect without bitterness, and, hopefully, with a bit of good humor.
Twenty-eight years is a long time to do anything, especially within one corporate culture. Like anyone, I have done some things well, some things less well, and some things I wish I hadn't done at all. Hindsight is at once a remarkably useful, and a remarkably dangerous tool at times like these.
I have very few regrets. I've had the opportunity to travel a bit, and to support a family and home that I love deeply, and that is directly due to the stability that my time with Ma Bell has afforded me. I have made many lasting friendships in my time here, and I truly cherish all of them.
It has also been a pleasure to witness firsthand and up-close the change wrought by the coming of the Information Age, for my money the single greatest technological leap in human history. Without the network advancements put forth by my industry, those changes simply would not be feasible, and it has been a privilege to take a very small part in that.
Like any corporate culture, that of Verizon has undergone great change over the past thirty years. Divestiture, merger and acquisition, and the inherent advancement of the industry made such change inevitable. It's very easy for an individual observer to take a position that such change is "good" or "bad"; the truth (to me, anyway) is that it's far more intellectually honest to assess the changes individually, and with the perspective of what was happening at the time, rather than in hindsight. I'm of the opinion that the general calculus of business as a whole has changed so radically in my time that to take any other point of view would be sheer folly. The notion of "lifetime employment", fairly commonplace within my own lifetime, simply does not exist any longer, and even the most casual of observers can see that.
In sum, it would be easy for me to lob rhetorical hand grenades at Verizon for the inherent unfairness of my current situation. Uh-uh. Ain't happening. While I was surprised at the timing of this, I was by no means shocked by it; I've seen at least seven separate RIFs come down the pike in my fifteen years in management at Verizon, and while none of those affected me personally, I never failed to think to myself how short-sighted it always appeared at the time. The longer view here is one that I simply must adopt at this particular point. Fair or unfair is simply opinion, and not part of this particular equation.
There's a part of this that is undeniably scary; a fifty-one year-old guy hitting the job market in earnest for the first time in thirty years is admittedly a scary proposition. That said, and this may be deeply delusional on the part of your intrepid scribe, I'm oddly confident about this, and not a little excited as well. I had been stagnating a bit in my current position, and, if I'm going to be truly candid about this, that stagnation had to have become as apparent to others as it was to me. "Fair play", as Schlom used to say. In addition, there is, blessedly, no immediate urgency to find a new position; the offered severance package is attractive, and will do.
Instead, the fundamental question is "What's next?" I've been fortunate to have developed some experience that may be useful, and this world is filled with opportunities for those with the wit to find them. Further, I'm not even sure that I want telecom to be my main focus going forward; I've been indulging my more creative side of late, and that is starting to have some real appeal.
It's funny; this feels a little like dealing with a serious illness, in that there's shock, denial, etc. as part of the whole process. Perspective and reason become of paramount importance. We will progress, because the alternative is simply unaccceptable.
The point of all of this? Change happens. Deal with it. Move on. Trust in you, and in those who care for you. Satch was right.
Until next time,
Excelsior!
There's a part of this that is undeniably scary; a fifty-one year-old guy hitting the job market in earnest for the first time in thirty years is admittedly a scary proposition. That said, and this may be deeply delusional on the part of your intrepid scribe, I'm oddly confident about this, and not a little excited as well. I had been stagnating a bit in my current position, and, if I'm going to be truly candid about this, that stagnation had to have become as apparent to others as it was to me. "Fair play", as Schlom used to say. In addition, there is, blessedly, no immediate urgency to find a new position; the offered severance package is attractive, and will do.
Instead, the fundamental question is "What's next?" I've been fortunate to have developed some experience that may be useful, and this world is filled with opportunities for those with the wit to find them. Further, I'm not even sure that I want telecom to be my main focus going forward; I've been indulging my more creative side of late, and that is starting to have some real appeal.
It's funny; this feels a little like dealing with a serious illness, in that there's shock, denial, etc. as part of the whole process. Perspective and reason become of paramount importance. We will progress, because the alternative is simply unaccceptable.
The point of all of this? Change happens. Deal with it. Move on. Trust in you, and in those who care for you. Satch was right.
Until next time,
Excelsior!
