In May 2020, Uber had to make difficult, unavoidable decisions and laid off almost 7,000 people. My role as Global Leadership Development Manager was just one of those impacted.
When I found out, thousands of scenarios ran through my head: ‘I should have insisted on taking on new projects’; ‘I should have built more relationships with that senior director’; ‘I should have built a business case for those opportunities I had identified…’, but the reality was, there was nothing I could have done.
My work, building the leadership development learning journey for leaders in the operations team was almost done, and my project shifted from being a top business priority in 2019 to being eliminated due to Covid19.
Saying virtual goodbyes to everyone made me realise that although this was an end of an era, it was also the beginning of something new and exciting, where I finally got what I had wished for (but was unsuccessful) for so long in my role at Uber: growth opportunities.
With so much uncertainty and ambiguity that was happening in the world at that time, I decided that I wasn’t going to waste my energies and give in to negative feelings.
I’m therefore sharing my thoughts from the time that I hope might help other alumni who are facing a similar situation at the moment.
‘Layoff’ doesn’t have an ‘I’ in it
There are two things to remember. Firstly, in this type of situation of mass layoffs, it is not your fault. As in my own case, there was absolutely nothing I could have done to avoid it.
Secondly, you are not alone. When it happened to me, I was one of 22 million people in the US who lost their jobs due to Covid19. There will be networks and support groups which you could join and reach out to your family and friends. You will be surprised by the amount of kindness, support and solidarity people offer to one another during these difficult times.
Crisis means opportunity
The word ‘crisis’ originates from the Greek word ‘krisis’ which means a ‘decisive point’. As Victor Frankl said, we can’t control what happens to us, but we have the freedom to choose. Every change represents a new beginning, which translates into the opportunity to start again on the same or a different path, but with more experience.
Identify the things that you don’t have any control over (layoffs, recession, the pandemic etc) and then identify the things that you DO have control over (networking, learning new skills, reading, planning your day, reaching out to family and friends, searching for new jobs etc). Separate the two.
The more you focus on things within your zone of control, the more you will feel empowered, creative and strong. It may also help you uncover new opportunities. I’ve conducted this exercise with some of the people I have coached in the past and found it to be very helpful.
Positivity is a powerful choice
I have read many articles that demonstrate the relationship between positivity and success. Positivity is defined as optimism or hopefulness about the future. It is directly linked to mental health, well-being and success, and in some publications, it is a synonym for confidence.
Psychologist Shawn Achor found that when experiencing positive emotions like joy, contentment and love, you will see more possibilities in your life and will open your mind to more options.
At the same time, other research shows that negative emotions programme your brain to do a specific action. When a big snake crosses your path, you run. The rest of the world doesn’t matter. You are focused entirely on the danger of the snake, the fear it creates, and how you can get away from it.
Similar to every-day life, when you are stressed, angry and sad about losing your job, you may find it hard to actually start looking for a new one, because you’re focused on the negative emotions and paralysed by how overwhelming and frightening the situation is.
Of course, there is no magical switch that can simply turn negativity off and positivity on.
It is normal to have feelings like sadness, grief, anger and so on, and we shouldn’t try to push those emotions away. Instead, we should embrace them, give ourselves some time to process and see them as a chance to learn about ourselves and what is important to us.
For example, I was sad that I could no longer tell people that I worked for a world-changing company like Uber, but it only taught me that my next role should be in another place that is changing the world, because this was important for me.
Positive-thinking doesn’t mean we should antagonise ‘bad’ emotions while forcing ourselves to be happy and display an upbeat attitude. Positive thinking means embracing those emotions and focusing on the benefit they bring us, instead of the destruction.
Where you can, choose to focus on the positive opportunities that occur in your life, whether it is joy coming from children, family, friends, pets, significant others, or simply being with yourself and meditating, writing, working-out etc.
Once I realised that I had the power to choose how I wanted to handle the situation and also knew that optimism could really make a positive impact on my life, I chose to react positively. I even asked my friends and family to not send pity texts such as ‘poor you’ or ‘I’m so sorry that happened’. Instead they sent me messages like ‘you are a rock star!’, and ‘you will find a better gig’.
I genuinely felt like a happier person and I had numerous people from my network (including my ex-boss) who all tried to help by providing referrals or simply sharing interesting job opportunities. Trust me, it does and will get better.
Victoria is currently Head of Learning and Development at Amazon and a certified leadership and life coach. She is happy for alumni to connect with her through LinkedIn.
This is an updated version of a LinkedIn article(opens in new window) published by Victoria in 2020. The original article includes links to resources that Victoria has found useful.