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.
