Why I Asked My Boss To Lay Me Off Dear Liz,

I follow your advice to the tee and it’s helped me a lot. Five months ago I took a new job and almost immediately regretted doing it. It was one of those situations where the CEO was absolutely convinced that the company needed someone new on the team (that’s me), but the other managers were not on board with the idea.

The woman who hired me was not on board with the CEO’s idea but she didn’t give that away at the job interview. She just sounded to me like a busy manager (actually she is the Director of Product Development) with a number of priorities, of which my role would be just one.

I took the job. My first problem was that no one would meet with me. My own Director avoided me. The CEO was the exception. He was only too happy to talk to me. He had all kinds of ideas for my position but he is a typically brilliant, visionary guy who had no idea how to get the Director on board with his vision.

The other managers were also holding back because they could see that the Director was hesitant. Ironically I knew I could help the CEO sell his vision internally but given my relatively low-level position two levels below him, that wasn’t going to be my role and I knew it.

He could have had me report to him directly but of course he didn’t want to offend his Directors by doing that — nor did he want to talk with them in a forthright away about the huge, gaping differences in opinion between them.

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For five months I sat at my desk, walked around and introduced myself to people, and went to meetings where no one really wanted my input. I was kicking myself for having taken the job.

I got two important projects done in my five months on the job but all that did was get me tagged as a project manager, and this company has very good project managers on its staff already. The CEO hired me to bring in strategic product planning, which his company desperately needs and which I have been doing successfully for about 15 years.

The Director of Product Development had every excuse in the book for pushing off and minimizing the product strategy initiative. She put me on other projects. She wouldn’t even meet with me face to face.

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The last thing she wants is a vision or process for the company’s product development. It is foreign and off-putting to her. She is an off-the-cuff leader and she is very smart, but there is a huge unaddressed conflict between her and the CEO and I was thrust into the middle of it.

After eight weeks I met with my Director (we’ll call her Sally) and I asked her to lay me off. At first she was affronted. She said “Why should I lay you off? Our company isn’t having a layoff.” I said “I completely understand. You hired me and you’ve paid me for five months but my mission isn’t clear and I’m spending salary dollars that I know you can put to better use.”

At first Sally didn’t want to let me go because she didn’t want to make her under-the-table war with the CEO any more visible than it was already.

I said “I won’t quit because I see ways that I can help the company and you certainly give me assignments, but if you lay me off you’ll be done paying my salary and we’ll have parted ways cleanly. All you have to do is to agree not to contest my unemployment claim.”

For me it was a matter of principle. They hired me but there was no job. I don’t want to sit around and be idle, and my flame and resume certainly didn’t expand in those five months.

I knew I could ask for a package as you advised someone else to do but I didn’t want to make my departure a big political issue. I just wanted to be able to leave and start a new job search.

My Director met with the CEO and then the three of us met. I said “I think you hired me about a year too early in your company’s trajectory.” My Director looked satisfied and the CEO looked glum.

The CEO said “Will you consult for us?” I was ready for that question. My direct boss Sally was sitting right there.

“Yes,” I said. “I think that is an excellent suggestion. I can consult for you directly, if you are committed to creating a product strategy.”

The CEO looked startled. “That is, if this project is a mission-critical priority for you,” I said.

I did not intend to do it, but I put the CEO on the spot. At that instant I understood what you mean when you talk about solving Business Pain. The lack of a product strategy is this company’s greatest pain. Finally the CEO said “Let’s try it for three months.”

I said “My rate for three months will be prohibitive. If you are committed to creating a product strategy, I will facilitate that process as a consultant and it will take six months.” We did the deal. Sally told me “I’m glad to be out of it. I don’t care about the product strategy as much as he does.” That was obvious.

I’ve had two phone conversations with the CEO so far. He said “It’s on me, I realize it, to sell the product strategy vision internally but you can help me do that.” I said I would. I felt that I was coaching the CEO in our brief twenty-minute interview when I got hired. Now I will be doing it for real.

My consulting role is to work with the CEO, the sales and marketing people and the engineers to develop a product strategy. Do I care if Sally ever comes on board? I can’t say that I really care, but I will do a great job for them as a consultant and then they can implement my plan or not.

I was shocked that I pulled it off but I did, and I will start working with my company as a consultant in a few weeks. I get what you are saying, Liz. When you take away all the fluff and posturing, people have pain. Our job every day is to spot that pain and figure out how we can help relieve it.

I’ve enclosed my first contract. As you can see, I’ve taken care of myself should the winds change or if somebody puts enough pressure on the CEO that he tells me to get lost. If that happens, I am covered financially.

I have never worked as an independent consultant before but I have more job security in my six-month contract than I’ve ever had before. Thanks for everything you do, Liz!

Yours,

Flavia