What's the Matter with Topeka?

 I was a long-time resident of Topeka.  I was born at Stormont-Vail Hospital in 1959.  I grew up in a small two bedroom house at 627 Oakley Street.  I went to Gage Elementary School, Landon Middle School, and Topeka West High School.  I graduated from the University of Kansas and came back and lived in the old house at 1127 SW MacVicar. 

Do I know Topeka?  Yes, I know Topeka and most of the movers and shakers there.  Do I have opinions regarding the direction the city has taken in the last thirty years?  Definitely.   I remember what Topeka was like in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.  Why do I say all this?  Somebody will ask.  Someone will say I don’t have a right to say anything about Topeka because I no longer live there. 

In 2002, a letter to the editor of the Topeka Capital Journal was entitled, “What’s the Matter with Topeka?”  It was a well-written epitaph by a middle aged professional who loved Topeka but could no longer live there because the jobs for mid-level professionals were gone.  I read the letter with interest, and I related to most of the claims stated in the letter.

This article will present some of the issues and problems that Topeka has encountered in the last thirty years.  My primary question, “What’s the Matter with Topeka?” will be addressed.   The reader may not agree with everything I say, but this is my opinion as viewed from abroad.  As such, take it with a grain of salt and an eye for sheer entertainment value.

In Defense of a Hometown

Ask my friends, and they will say without a doubt, I’m the last defender of Topeka.   That’s true.  If I’m in a group of people and someone utters a negative comment about Topeka, I will defend my hometown.  Defense is not always easy, but I carry the torch that keeps the spirit of my hometown alive.  I don’t know why I do it, but I feel I owe Topeka something.  There are not many of us who will do this. 

Unfortunately, sometimes I’m called to defend Topeka on an almost daily basis.  Negative comments can come from all over.  I have several friends from Lawrence.  I can almost predict that they will say something bad about Topeka.  My co-workers slammed Topeka almost as often as grabbing a cup of coffee.  At first, I would be quiet so that no waves were generated.  Finally, I got worn out and tired of the bland, obnoxious, barrage of idiot generalizations, so I began my crusade to defend my town. 

What were once endearing qualities about Topeka suddenly took a turn for the worst.  I think it began in the 1990’s and the downhill turn never looked back.  The change was so radical that it even caught me by surprise.  In the following sections, I will attempt to address some of these backward slides and try to figure out how to reverse them.

Crime

It is sad when crime takes center stage in a community.  Ask people to name three things that need to be fixed in Topeka, and crime will usually be in the top three.  Google “crime statistics for Topeka, Kansas,” and there is a link that plainly lists Topeka’s crime statistics in several critical categories.  You can also compare these statistics to other communities in the United States.  I chose Spokane, Washington; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Lincoln, Nebraska; Iowa’s Quad Cities, and Springfield, Missouri.  I was determined to find a community with a similar population and with similar crime problems.  While these other communities occasionally beat Topeka in a specific crime category type (rape, theft, etc.), Topeka usually won (or lost) hands down.  Sometimes they lost big time.  Their crime rate would be as much as twice per 100,000 population as these other communities.  What is the result of this study?  Topeka’s crime problem is not a perceived reality, it is genuine. 

Unfortunately, the reputation of rampant crime is not a secret.  It is well known.  It has forced residents to move out in all directions from the city limits and into the county.  The theory is that most of the crime is centered in downtown, mid-town, North Topeka, and the Oakland areas.  In order to avoid it, residents have moved to comparably quiet Shawnee County areas, or even Jackson, Douglas, Jefferson, Wabaunsee, and Osage Counties.  One of the problems with this theory is that it’s wrong.  Crime has moved to certain parts of the city that never witnessed significant crime before.  The county has now become easy pickings for thieves, drug dealers, and general criminal mischief.  

Since crime has taken center stage, people are reluctant to move here.  The population of Topeka has not significantly increased in the last twenty years.  Recently there was a celebration in town because the town’s population increased by a thousand people.  That is less than 1% of the population, and certainly nothing to celebrate.  Worse than that, the crime rate would have to decrease even more significantly for Topeka’s reputation as a crime haven to disappear. 

What can Topeka do about this?  I think the movers and shakers in Topeka realize that crime is a problem.  I think they can successfully point to short-term trends that may show an improvement in crime statistics.   I don’t think they can point to any long-term gains.  One answer might be to hire more law enforcement.  This would require more funding, but I think this issue is so important and crucial right now that more money needs to be invested to curtail it. 

Some things can’t be fixed.  Public opinion, for example.  The best thing Topeka can do is cross their fingers and hope that the rumors and the bad press on crime goes away.  In time, other communities may take over the “Dodge City” role that Topeka has inherited.  If Topeka can make positive, public gains in other areas, the combination may be enough to curtail the bad image of crime.

Heritage

Topeka has a rich heritage, no doubt about that.  The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.  The Latin community in Oakland.  The Oregon Trail.  The Free State-Proslavery movement of the 1850’s.  Topeka is the home of the Kansas Museum of History and the Kansas Center for Historical Research.  The town, however, has trashed nearly everything unique and vital in the way of historical architecture.

Take for example the governor’s mansion that existed for decades prior to Cedar Crest.  Once Cedar Crest was donated to the state for use as an executive mansion, the former governor’s residence became nothing but a pile of debris.  It happened so fast that no one even realized it was happening. 

Then there was the old First National Bank building that sat at the corner of 6^th and Kansas Avenue.  It went down in similar fashion.  I thought the same thing was going to happen to the Columbian Building, not once but several times.  Old Victorian mansions in Potwin Place and Auburndale have also voluntarily disappeared.  Some would say they fell in the name of progress.  I think the lack of interest says reams about Topeka as a community.   Everything is disposable.   Oddly enough, it took several years for the New England Life building to come down even though it was an empty shell after the 1966 tornado, but it took hardly any time at all for the 1^st National Bank building to come down. 

There have been recent strides to save buildings.  The John Ritchie house.   The school where Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education played a pivotal role.  While the latter is truly a dark incident in the town’s history, (what town wants to be the one remembered for segregation so ridiculous that it literally changed history for everyone else), I guess it is an effort nonetheless.  Topeka needs more of that. 

I will close this section by stating another sad realization—the Kansas Museum of History is an award-winning state museum.  I wonder how many Topekans have never visited the museum?  Unfortunately, the answer to that question is perhaps in the thousands. 

Jobs

A city must have a versatile job base to remain vibrant.  In the last twenty years or so, Topeka has shown more talent in losing companies and jobs than in gaining them.

One of the darkest chapters in the town’s history was the loss of the Menninger Foundation a few years back, when it moved to Houston, Texas.  In the first place, the Menninger family is a big part of Topeka’s heritage.  This clinic became world-renowned in the fields of psychology and psychiatry.  As an unusual sidelight, it was always fun to see Hollywood celebrities around town while they stayed at the foundation getting help.  It must have been a dark day indeed when the doors closed on that place.  What was left was a ghost facility that sat in a ravine below WIBW, ignored and quickly gathering weeds.  The Fleming Company is another example. Losing Flemings can be defined as disaster in the grandest scale for a city the size of Topeka. 

 One of Topeka’s mainstays for decades is the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Plant that sits out at the north edge of town.  Goodyear is a Geiger counter for business prosperity in town.  When employees are laid off, it usually doesn’t bode well for the town.  When the plant is running at full capacity, things are generally good.  The sporadic lay-offs and slowdowns are a part of life, and whether Goodyear is prospering or not, it is a union plant in a non-union environment.

One of the largest employers in town is the state.  Two large state office buildings and a host of other facilities dot downtown and everywhere else.  The state and its seemingly endless supply of clerical jobs is the promised land for many young farm kids fresh out of high school and begging to get out of the country and into the city.  A substantial percentage of state employees are fresh recruits from nearby rural counties.  Lately the endless supply has started to dry up, and there are fewer farm kids that are able to make the transition to their first taste of city life.  The state has become an unreliable source of jobs.   Even a portion of the prison system has left for El Dorado.  The old “diagnostic facility,” a fancy word for felony initiation into the state system, used to sit on the east side of town.  Now it sits near El Dorado on the outskirts of that town. 

Last, let’s not forget about Santa Fe.  The Santa Fe Railroad used to employ hundreds of accountants and other administrative staff, not to mention rail yard workers and others.  Beginning in the early 1980s, things have not looked so bright for Santa Fe, at least in Topeka.  Their bad luck seemed to escalate as soon as their brand new windowless office building was constructed on the east side of downtown.  Perhaps making it “windowless” had a sideline advantage—passersby could not view all the empty cubicles.

This is a brief laundry list of some of the heavy hitters.  This is off the top of my head and I’ve probably missed a few.  One could also comment about Jostens and Payless Shoe Source and Frito Lay.   The most amusing thing about Payless Shoe Source is its invisibility.  It is fantastic that Topeka is the national headquarters for Payless. What is amusing is that nobody knows, and Payless doesn’t seem to advertise it. 

So, you might ask, how can this be resolved?  Right now, I’m writing this as we face a recession.  Topeka has some motivating factors that employers would find attractive—an educated workforce, inexpensive resources, tax breaks, available inexpensive housing, and a population that makes it not too big and not too small.  A push needs to be made to accentuate these opportunities. 

Leadership

The job of Topeka mayor must be a thankless job.  No matter how good a mayor you are, your decisions and power are overshadowed by a little thing called the Kansas Statehouse and another position known as the Kansas governor.  When the mix of state and municipal power has a general atmosphere of “give and take,” all is good with the world.  Otherwise, forget it.

Since the June 8, 1966 tornado, Topeka can count itself lucky to have several good mayors.  Charles Wright was mayor at the time the city was split in half by one of the worst tornadoes in the history of recorded disasters.  It has been called the first $100,000,000 tornado.  Lesser men might have thrown up their hands and dragged their feet through miles of destruction and red tape.  Charles Wright set the stage for putting Topeka back on track.   For the most part, his administration was successful. 

He was followed by one of Topeka’s best known mayors, Bill McCormick.  McCormick served throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.  He was not flamboyant, but he was consistent in his actions and honest in his intentions.  Topeka prospered greatly during his administration.  The 1980’s is characterized by Chuck Wright’s visionary son, Doug Wright.  Doug Wright was young and willing to try new things.  Some of them worked, some of them didn’t.  Doug Wright was sort of a Bill Clinton in miniature.  While some dreams failed, who really kept track?  Topekans felt good about themselves, and the town seemed to be growing.

The 1990s through the current decade saw things unravel a bit.  Crime increased.  Industry left.  Businesses stagnated.  When Mayor Joan Wagnon set her lofty goal of planting trees along one busy thoroughfare while crime and unemployment escalated, it became clear that things were not going well.  Butch Felker took a stab at trying to get things right, but seemed stuck in quagmires of unnecessary bureaucracy.   Duane Pomeroy and James McClinton served such short terms, I’m not certain if they did much of anything.  Too bad for Pomeroy.  The Pomeroy name is famous in Topeka, and he held great promise. 

 

Strange Shifts in Prosperity, Both Good and Bad

When I grew up in Topeka, the vibrant center of town was not the downtown or west but rather South Topeka Boulevard.  This is where White Lakes Mall, Katz, a bevy of nice restaurants, and a run of strip malls kept things hopping.  We would drive the strip on Friday and Saturday nights, much to the chagrin of Topeka police.  I assumed the trend would continue.  It did not. 

In the 1980s, the Shideler family and others sold parcels of land along Wanamaker Road.  A wonderful center of business was planned.  This included a bunch of hotels, Circuit City, Target, a Super Walmart, and the crowning achievement, Westridge Mall.  I assumed that Topeka could support two malls.  I was wrong.  Within months after Westridge Mall opened, White Lakes went downhill fast, and so did everything else around it.  The center of commerce moved from South Topeka to West Topeka.  Housing followed.  It was such a dramatic shift that it may have surprised everyone in Topeka.  In fact, this dramatic change may be one of the things that sent the town into a tail-spin. 

 Not all has been good on the west side of town.  Large merchandise stores have left.  Mall staple stores and anchor stores have left.   Part of this is a national trend—malls are not what they used to be.  But it is still somewhat foreboding.  White Lakes Mall became nothing like what it was in the early 1980s. 

Other parts of town held promise, albeit briefly.  During Doug Wright’s term, North Topeka was promoted as a trendy spot for bars and nice restaurants.  A great little French restaurant gave North Topeka a try.  But there was not enough energy or excitement to motivate enough people to go there.  Downtown Topeka on the south side held more promise.  When I was growing up, downtown Topeka was a bit sleazy.  They had an old rundown Playboy Club and a smattering of skanky bars.  This slowly began to change.  Macys and Dillards occupied a large building in the center of downtown.  Other local businesses held promise, like Wolfe’s Camera and Video.   At the north end was Montgomery Wards.   Montgomery Ward’s moved to Westridge Mall, as did Dillards.  The Santa Fe general offices began promoting shorter lunches so employees could leave earlier.   State employees were offered similar motivations.  Thus, no time to shop or eat lunch, and thus, fewer customers.  The movement of Montgomery Ward’s and Dillards eventually to Westridge Mall left the dream of a trendy shopping mecca in downtown Topeka without an anchor store.   

One of the bright spots in Topeka’s development was the construction of the ExpoCentre on Topeka Boulevard at the Shawnee County Fairgrounds, and the renovation of the Topeka Performing Arts Center in downtown next to the courthouse.  The renovation was well prepared and executed, and the old building never looked better.  The ExpoCentre offered a medium-sized venue for sporting events, concerts, conventions, and gatherings.   These were both positive advances that faced lukewarm receptions from a significant percentage of Topeka taxpayers. 

Another positive development was the advancement of Washburn College since the June 1966 tornado.  The tornado all but flattened most of the university.  Since then, many new campus buildings were built on the foundations of the condemned ones.  Today, the college has transformed from those dark days into a significant place of learning with an extensive curriculum and world-renowned professors.   What makes this even more significant is Washburn’s placement an hour from Kansas State University, an hour from Emporia State University, and thirty-five minutes from the University of Kansas.  One might think that Eastern Kansas has enough places of higher learning.  Somehow, Washburn has been successful in competing with the big boys by offering attractive alternatives for adult students. 

This section has definitely been a mix of the good and the bad.  The good is, truly, quite good, so why does Topeka have problems?

Atmosphere of Hate:   The Phelps Family

Unfortunately, Topeka gets publicized quite often, and it really has nothing to do with the town.   In the last twenty years, Fred Phelps and members of the so-called Westboro Baptist Church have spread their home-grown message of hate against gays to all corners of the United States.  Every time they stage a funeral protest somewhere, Topeka is included in the news report.    The mere mention of where the Westboro Baptist Church is located is all it takes.   The name Topeka becomes etched in people’s minds along with “hate” and the Phelps family.

I grew up in the shadow of the Westboro Baptist Church.  My boyhood home was two miles away.   My old historic home that I restored in the 1980s and 1990s was a mile away.  When I was growing up, little mention was made of the Westboro Baptist Church.  Once in awhile, the Phelp’s kids would come by selling candy door-to-door to raise money for church-related projects.   Sometimes it would be as late as 9:30 at night, which seemed a bit strange, but whatever worked I guess.   I went to school with two of the Phelps boys, Jonathan and Nathan.  Considering their devout religious beliefs, I found it strange that their parents would even send them to a public school, but they did.   Looking back on it, I would’ve thought that a private religious school or home schooling would have been their schooling of choice.  Both boys were likable kids.   Jonathan had a great sense of humor and at that time, I would consider him a friend.   Nathan was a grade or more ahead of me, so I didn’t know him as well, but his personality seemed similar.   Never would I have imagined that their family harbored any hatred for any one based on their sexual orientation.    

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church seemed to spring to life in the latter half of the 1980s.  Their picketing and protests began primarily near the Shawnee County Courthouse and at a street corner near the entrance to a strip mall known as Gage Center.   The protesting spread like wildfire.  Next it was in front of homes where folks lived that publicly disagreed with them.  Next, it was in front of churches that had a more liberal atmosphere towards accepting gays.  This quickly changed to gay funerals, or funerals that had some type of connection to the gay lifestyle.  And so on and so on.  The stage changed.  It was no longer just Topeka.  The protests moved to Lawrence, Kansas City, and points east and west, wherever there was publicity and a news camera.   Suddenly Topeka took front and center. 

Another dark day in the history of Topeka was the day the Ku Klux Klan staged a gathering on the Capitol steps, and not too far away, the Phelps clan spread their usual hate-fest.  Some fools bragged about how this made Topeka look like a defender of free speech.  I just call it stupid.

For years, the Phelps exorcised some type of svengali hold over the movers and shakers of Topeka.  I don’t know how it happened, but everyone in town was scared of them.  Scared of the picketing coming a-knocking at their doors, scared of lawsuits, you name it.  

One example of this was a show that aired on WIBW TV 13 at noon on Saturdays, called “Your Question Please.”  Each Saturday, three different local clergymen were selected to come on for a half hour to answer people’s questions about God, religion, the hereafter, anything.  There were often questions about the Phelps, usually something like, “Do you believe what they believe?”  This made every religious leader who came on that show extremely uncomfortable.   None would answer the question directly.  Most shriveled up like a dried prune and prayed that the question would go away.  They didn’t want the Phelps family to picket them.    The closest religion that the Westboro Baptist Church seems to emulate is the Primitive Baptist Church.  On the Primitive Baptist Church website, there is a disclaimer where it states the beliefs of the Westboro Baptist Church are not the beliefs of the Primitive Baptist Church.   This is the only place and location where I’ve ever seen the Baptist Church make a stand against the Phelps.   Most of the time the Baptists seem complacent to let the Phelps family run wild.   They seem more interested in boycotting Disney World than in having the Baptist religion pop up every time a news report mentions the Westboro Baptist Church.    This seems to be the status quo among Topekans and one of the flaws behind the rise of the Westboro Baptist Church.   They have no one with the guts to defy them.  The problem is, every time they get their name in the papers, the city of Topeka, Kansas is right there with them.

One last thing to consider-- if Topeka is in the running to attract a great company, and it is between Topeka and, say, four other cities, what will the impact of the Westboro Baptist Church be?   Nothing?  Something?  Everything?  I don’t have the answers.  But if I ran a company and I had to choose between Topeka and four other cities, and none of the others attracted regular, negative press regarding a religious group constantly promoting hate, I may choose one of the other four cities rather than expose my staff and employees to this regular annoyance.   Think about it.......

Despite my early acquaintance with Jonathan Phelps, I find the family antics inexcusable.  I will never forgive them.  At the age of four, I had to teach my daughter about hate due to witnessing this group picketing at the corner of 10^th and Gage.  I feel disgusted and violated that the issue of hate had to be brought up to a four year old.    How many other parents feel likewise?   I defend freedom of speech.  But freedom of speech brings with it certain responsibilities.   I don’t feel that picketing a funeral is part of that responsibility. 

Topeka:  The Future

I think Topeka has a potentially bright future, I really do.  It is the hub of a marketing area that extends west to Manhattan, north to the Nebraska line, and south to Emporia.  That is a lot of territory.  Why things don’t seem to gel remains a mystery. 

As I said in the beginning, Topeka shares real estate with the State of Kansas.  That can have some advantages, but also some disadvantages.  I think it is time the city took on a new identity besides the Capitol City.   The town can’t fully rely on state jobs to offset private enterprise anymore. 

First, eliminate crime.   Take back the night, take back the city.  Then, focus on attracting industry first and foremost.   The town’s image needs a facelift.  Nearby Kansas City and Lawrence do not have to zap all the energy out of Topeka. 

That is about all.   I will be watching, as will the rest of the nation.  I will continue to brag about Topeka and talk it up, but please try to make that job a little easier.  Right now it feels like an uphill battle.

 

What Jim Rockford Taught Us About Business

If you grew up in the 1970s, it was hard to avoid James Garner.  The actor, made famous in the previous decade playing Bret Maverick in an earlier TV series, starred in another long-running TV series called The Rockford Files. 

 

Garner played Jim Rockford, a Los Angeles private detective who served time in San Quentin for a wrongful conviction.  Once pardoned, he set up shop in a dilapidated trailer in Malibu taking small-time insurance scams and cold cases mostly to stay out of trouble with the police.   But Garner's character quickly took off in popularity, and the show had a successful run from 1974-1980. 

 

It seems unlikely, but Garner's character, Jim Rockford, could teach us a few things about how to be successful in business, even though it seems Rockford was never paid for the cases he accepted.  Here are a few things that distinguished Rockford as a successful businessman.

 

Technology and Customer Service.  Each episode of the Rockford Files began with the phone ringing, and Rockford's answering machine picking up the call.  Rockford believed in keeping in touch with his customers at all times.  Answering machines were a rare technology in the 1970s, yet Rockford valued keeping in touch with potential customers enough that he had one.   He was a pioneer in customer service and knew the importance of being available 24/7.

 

The Long Shot.   In business, it's easy to pick and choose projects based on their probability of success and their high profile.  Rockford appeared to go out of his way to pick cases that were old and unsolvable.  Through a process of elimination and sound reasoning and deduction, he solved every case before the end of the hour.   We all would like to take the easy way out, and select work projects that are easily, quickly solved and with the highest visibility.  Once in awhile, the Long Shot is a necessity.  It builds business character and shows your integrity to complete a nearly impossible task on time successfully. 

 

Business Favors.  Rockford's clients were rarely wealthy, and their problems were tough.  Often they didn't seem to have two nickels to rub together.  Amazingly, Rockford would take on their cases despite knowledge and better judgement.  We've all been approached by a client or co-worker and asked to help them out for little or no personal gain.  But sometimes, that's the right thing to do, and Rockford did favors recognizing that it was a task that needed to be done.

 

Work-Life Balance.  Rockford worked hard for his clients, but he played hard too.  He had a healthy work-life balance, although he was always available for client questions and concerns...except when out on that Malibu dock fishing with his dad, Rocky.

 

Question Authority.  Rockford had a natural sense of knowing when things didn't add up.  He questioned established practices, people's statements and mannerisms, and constantly evaluated and re-evaluated.  In the business world, such traits are characteristics of survival.  Never presume anything no matter what a boss or coworker tells you.  Use your gut instinct, dig deeper, strive for the best outcome.  Do what it takes to get the real answer.  So-called "Best Practices" often are not.  Create your own Best Practices.  If you believe in your heart in what you are doing and how you are doing it, go with your heart.  Chances are, the path will be rewarding one.

 

James Garner passed away on July 19.  We will miss the characters he portrayed, such as Bret Maverick and Jim Rockford.  Sometimes we tend to believe that the actor resembles the characters he portrays.  Garner would've been a rich person if he resembled Jimbo.  The actor left behind a legacy of characters we can emulate and admire.   

Get Over It

The Premiere of  "As I See It."

 

Introduction:  There are a lot of LinkedIn Influencers out there.   Without a lot of effort, you can learn the latest information on resumes, job interviews, dressing for success, and a host of other professional topics.  My goal is to present new angles, new visions, new ideas, things that are totally different from the vast array of topics that inundate LinkedIn every day.   I call this column, "As I See It."

Volume 1, Issue 1,  "Get Over It."

My first topic comes with narrating a personal experience.

A few careers ago, I was Operations Manager for an upstart airline called Vanguard Airlines.  The company was founded in 1994 with great intentions but limited capital.  Despite any financial limitations, the company began flying from New York to Los Angeles, with a hub in Kansas City.  I loved the airline industry, and I quickly learned a lot of skills that only a small airline could offer.

 

In time, the airline quickly acquired massive debt that slowly strangled any chances for continued profitability and success.  A year after 9/11 the company went bankrupt without any warning, leaving 1,100 people without jobs. 

I didn't handle the bankruptcy very well.  I was quick to blame the CEO, the CIO, the head of Marketing, even the janitor if the situation fit.  I was an equal opportunity blamer, and as the years went by, the bitterness remained.  I don't know if I could've done anything different, nor was I in a position to change the bleak economic outlook of the company.  But blaming someone had a therapeutic effect of putting my puzzle pieces back together.

 

My career didn't falter, or even slow down.  I left the airline industry, but quickly turned to other corporate pursuits, so I was lucky.  However, it didn't change my bitterness towards the officers that I were sure conspired to bring the company down needlessly.

 

Recently, I was struck by an a-ha moment.  Here I was, 10 years later, harboring resentment and bitterness towards a group of people that didn't deserve it.  Worse than that, I was wasting time and my blood pressure on a group of people that moved on and never looked back.  They were posting Facebook pictures vacationing in the Bahamas, without a care in the world, while I held them up to a microscrope of unsubstantiated blame.

The moral of the story is, Get Over It.  If something happens at work, it is not worth harboring resentment.  Life goes on.  Don't be the only one that doesn't pick up and move on.  This is sometimes a bitter pill to swallow, and a lot of companies have gone bankrupt amid scandal and controversy where the CEO stood trial and even went to jail (anybody remember Enron?).  But it still doesn't merit holding a grudge.

 

Success in business requires a positive attitude and the ability to learn from mistakes, even if they aren't yours.  Take the first steps when a job catastrophe occurs, and merely get out from under it as quickly as possible.  Life goes on, and you can get out from under it and move on too.