by Ted Sherman

Created on: November 12, 2009

The word stripped in the title perfectly describes what happens when a career employee is suddenly removed from a position of authority. When it happens, you do feel as if your protective clothing has been torn off, and you stand there naked and vulnerable. It happened to me many, many years ago, but the pain is just as sharp today as the day I received the bad news.

I had been the manager of the creative department of a large financial company for the past ten of my 20 years there. There were 40 people in my division, and I was responsible for meeting daily deadlines, as well as the usual hiring, training, promoting and on several occasions, the necessity to fire people. By then, several of the younger people I had hired years before, all excellent workers, had advanced to associate manager positions.

One day, I was summoned to a company vice president's office, along with one of my most trusted associate managers. He had been hired and trained by me, and over the past several years, had proven to be my best associate, as well as a personal friend. Or, so I thought. The VP sat us down and, without any previous consultation or warning, he told me my associate manager had been promoted to my job.

The smiling VP was quick to tell me that although I would be reporting to the new manager, I was now a senior consultant, and my rank and pay would stay the same. However, suddenly I had no more management duties. So, how could I deal with being stripped of my authority at work? First, I wanted to punch out both the VP and the sneaky guy who had obviously been conniving behind my back to get my job. Then, after keeping my cool and cooling down, I decided to do nothing, except continue to work as hard on any future assignments as I had done for the past 20 years. I was also determined to cooperate fully with my former friend.

When I got back to the division, my humiliation was further brought home to me when my office was changed to a back room that had been used to store supplies. Of course, all of the employees in the division knew what had happened, and their reactions divided into two distinct directions. Many of them, including some I had hired, trained and promoted, quickly turned away from me and openly cozied up to the new manager. A few remained loyal friends, although I told them their careers would suffer for such now-outdated loyalty to a has-been.

If my experience can be of any help to others who suddenly find their careers stripped naked, I have very simple advice. If, as I did, you had decades invested in the job, you should keep your anger to yourself, and continue to do the very best job you can. If you're young when it happens, don't quit in anger. Keep your composure and your usual professional behavior, and begin immediately and absolutely secretly to look for another job within the company or decide to go elsewhere.

I dealt with the sudden blow as well as I could, and must have been successful, because I managed to work out the remaining four or five of my career with the company until I reached retirement age, and then enjoy an adequate pension. Would I still like to punch out the VP and the guy who stole my job? Of course I would, but I seldom ever think about at all.

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