[deleted]
Finding Your Swagger
31–40 of 92 posts
Re: Finding Your Swagger
#32Kevin I am sorry but you are not the one that is fault at here. There are several red flags but most noticably your ex firm lacks accountability. You shouldn't be hired with an impulsive decision, there shouldn't be closed doors decision making andyou should not be blamed because you executed the decisions made without your input. And getting fired after a whiteboard session with no heads up? Even though he knew he i…
> getting fired after a whiteboard session with no heads up? Even though he knew he is going to fire you the next day
Clearly the actions as described, and the choice of words ("complete download"), hint at the fact that they had decided months in advance that he would go, and just put in action a transition plan without telling him (COO more involved, etc). Absolutely cynical move.
Re: Finding Your Swagger
#33It is not very clear why did they fire him. Did he not fulfill his duties? Being fired for not speaking when he was previously excluded from those discussions seems absurd. Anyway, he was hired as a PO, he wasn't a CTO or COO and wasn't responsible for the company strategy. Maybe he was fired because they didn't like him and he didn't go well along with the others? That would explain also why he was excluded from the…
At managerial level, the reasons for firing can range from "his underlings hated his guts and he was bakrupting the company" to "he looked at me funny". If the upper management team doesn't feel the connection with the mid-level, all bets are off. That's why the relationships are often feudal: "I am faithful to Mr. VP because I know he will protect me". If you are not protected by a robust chain going all the way to the C-level, then you're like grass waiting for the lawnmower.
In this case, it's clear that at some point upper management lost faith in the guy and excluded him from steering decisions. He didn't fight back. When shit finally hit the fan they gaslit him by saying it was his fault, then proceeded to put in place a covert transition plan without telling him. He was naive in not seeing it coming, mis-identifying a series of brain dumps as "reconnecting", and when they felt they had everything they needed, the axe fell.
Re: Finding Your Swagger
#34Kevin I am sorry but you are not the one that is fault at here. There are several red flags but most noticably your ex firm lacks accountability. You shouldn't be hired with an impulsive decision, there shouldn't be closed doors decision making andyou should not be blamed because you executed the decisions made without your input. And getting fired after a whiteboard session with no heads up? Even though he knew he i…
Sounds like an impulsive CEO, with mixed levels of trust with his (vertical) team. A functional team doesn't get to be intermittently inclusive, while sending mixed signals on your responsibilities and expectations.
Re: Finding Your Swagger
#35Fast hire, fast fire.
OP is taking way too much on himself. I understand, and to a point respect the personal responsibility he takes, but he's going way overboard here. Perfectionism is the enemy of growth sometimes.
Re: Finding Your Swagger
#36Kevin, I'm sorry that you had to go through this. If going through this brought you some fresh kind of insight or helped you grow as a person and a professional, then great, but I feel like going to the COO's house and pissing on their doormat would also be a pretty appropriate response to what they did to you.
Re: Finding Your Swagger
#37Many folks are rightly pointing out that the picture of the company painted in this article sounds pretty toxic. I want to mention one point about confidence or as Kevin calls it swagger.
Confidence, let's you say I'm valuable enough that I can find another job. It gives you negotiation leverage. Confidence empowers you to write to the CEO and say things like: It is beginning to look like my expertise and skills are no longer valued here. As a result, I started looking around and I have an offer from another company where I feel like I can better contribute. Confidence changes things so that you are never really trapped at at toxic company.
Re: Finding Your Swagger
#38I'm sorry, but I can't connect the dots in that story. 1) He did great (like, there's actual metrics mentioned) 2) Others wanted a different direction (even though he did great?) and didn't tell him 3) They excluded him from meetings 4) They fired him 5) He blamed not "re-centering" himself In the notes, he mentions that one of his later decisions (splitting engineering) was a bad choice. So isn't that the core of it…
Mainly it sounds like a failure to connect with everyone else and read the room. This is "getting kicked out of the tribe" 101 and people are normally very sensitive to this. But as a new leader it's hard to understand all your status relationships (and that the happiness of the people under you on the org chart affects the happiness of the people listed above you). You can disagree with everyone else, you can be ove…
I have a similar problem in my workplace. I have a hard time reading what's going on in the room or the relationships between ups and downs. It's exhausting. Is there a playbook for this type of thing?
Re: Finding Your Swagger
#39I'm sorry, but I can't connect the dots in that story. 1) He did great (like, there's actual metrics mentioned) 2) Others wanted a different direction (even though he did great?) and didn't tell him 3) They excluded him from meetings 4) They fired him 5) He blamed not "re-centering" himself In the notes, he mentions that one of his later decisions (splitting engineering) was a bad choice. So isn't that the core of it…
Mainly it sounds like a failure to connect with everyone else and read the room. This is "getting kicked out of the tribe" 101 and people are normally very sensitive to this. But as a new leader it's hard to understand all your status relationships (and that the happiness of the people under you on the org chart affects the happiness of the people listed above you). You can disagree with everyone else, you can be ove…
For convenience;
Re: Finding Your Swagger
#40I'm sorry, but I can't connect the dots in that story. 1) He did great (like, there's actual metrics mentioned) 2) Others wanted a different direction (even though he did great?) and didn't tell him 3) They excluded him from meetings 4) They fired him 5) He blamed not "re-centering" himself In the notes, he mentions that one of his later decisions (splitting engineering) was a bad choice. So isn't that the core of it…
I can perceive a lack of openness in the startup Kevin was working for. For instance, why did the C.E.O, the C.O.O and the team exclude him blindly rather than communicate?