What Actually Happened

This story is old news, and not even relevant to anything that is happening today. But for some reason I thought writing it down might be useful.

I took the job with the software company in 1993 after becoming an odd man out in the reshuffle of management at my previous employer. Before '93, I had been the IS Director for a major trucking company in South Carolina. The short version of that story is that the trucking company's management was forced out in a hostile takeover but a couple of real estate speculators from New York.

I had been responsible for a highly successful implementation of new software systems at the trucking company from the software company I ended up going to work for in '93. The trucking company had grown very quickly, and initially had trouble turning a profit because they couldn't effectively manage the growth. However, after the total revamp of internal systems, mostly led by me, they turned the corner and were increasing in profitability quarter-over-quarter, and just as the hostile takeover occurred, they had their best quarter in something like 4 years.

Anyway, the real estate guys went shopping for managers. I knew it was only a matter of time before they got to me, and sure enough, I was cut loose in July of '93. Other than being worried about finding another job, I didn't feel too terrible about it, given nearly all of the other top-level managers were also terminated. Besides, I was sort of vindicated, since the new IS guy yanked out all of the software I worked so hard to implement in favor of his preferred brand, and the company went completely under within about 4 years. It was sort of interesting, because I got a few calls from people who stayed with the company before it went under, telling me that all the problems we solved while I was there had returned, with even more new ones added.

Anyway, working for the software company was like being released from prison. I had forgotten what it was like to be treated fairly, with genuine care and concern, while doing something I really enjoyed. It wasn't long before I was formally promoted to "Project Manager", where I happily plied my trade for several years.

The subject of advancement into management came up a few times over the years, but I had no desire to relocate to one of the cities with a regional office, and enjoyed the freedom of doing the consulting work out in the field.

But the beginning of the end came when my software company decided to go public. Immediately there was pressure from investors to show results and growth quarter-after-quarter. The company started cutting back, with the first things to go that affected me the monthly staff meetings and other training and teambuilding sessions. The people I had gotten to know and enjoyed spending time with now only showed up on the occasional conference call or email, and I increasingly felt disconnected from the rest of the company.

At first, it wasn't a terribly big deal for me, as I just continued to do my job. Until that year of the big project, when everything changed.

I managed a major year-long, multi-million dollar implementation project for an international company in the oil industry. My travels for that project took me mostly to the southwest US, but also other parts of the country and a 2-week trip to the Patagonia region of Argentina. It was an exciting and very rewarding project for both me and the company, and my bonuses at the end of that year added up to more than I ever dreamt I would earn in a single year.

But I was burned out. The constant travel, constantly being away from home, and wear-and-tear on my physical and mental well-being took a toll. So I leveraged the goodwill I had built with the company's management to convince them to allow me to join the Sales group in a Professional Services sales role.

In objective measures, I did OK in that role. At the end of that year working in Services Sales I was the top producer for consulting services sales in the company. A large part of that was a major contract with McDonalds, which was a difficult but rewarding accomplishment. However, I was very disappointed to find that they chose not to present that award at the end-of-year company awards banquet, even though it had been awarded every year previously. I never found out why, but always suspected that they didn't want to give the award to me.

The only reason I have for that suspicion is that I often frustrated the salespeople with my consulting estimates. They often feared that my numbers were too high, and that my services proposals might be "deal killers". This was very difficult and stressful for me, because I've always taken pride in being completely honest and open, and I often felt I was being pressured into "low-balling" estimates to help beat the competition.

But then an even greater change in the business happened. The bottom fell out of the ERP software market. After 2000, sales leads dried up. Practically nobody in the business world was doing anything with systems. So many system replacements and enhancements were made across the nation that after the millennium came with virtually no impact on business, everyone decided to focus on other things for awhile.

I kept working, focusing on finding those little projects to help customers upgrade or enhance the systems they already had in place. Selling little 1 and 2 week projects was about all we could manage for some time. And in the process, layoffs began. Managers left or were fired. Even the President of the company changed three times, as each one came and went without success.

The Professional Services division, which I reported to again in my selling capacity, experienced perhaps the greatest upheaval. Everyone on the management team was gone in about a six month period. Some because they grabbed at the lure (which later turned out to be false) of the new internet start-ups. Others saw the writing on the wall and took other positions. Others were simply fired for lack of production.

Without any formal process or even much of a chance to consider, I suddenly found myself thrust into a management position. It was a nightmare, practically from the first day. Projects were happening all over my assigned territory (Eastern US and all of Canada) with no oversight. Consultants were running wild, billing all the hours they could without regard to the project budget or contract. Third parties were openly violating their non-compete agreements by competing with the software company for business from its own customers. And consultants were being asked to implement new products that did not work.

Customers were upset at consultants running projects over budget and at products that didn't work. Consultants were upset at products that didn't work, at receiving less lucrative bonus plans than in the past, and at being asked to raise their billable productivity.

I felt like one single lonely person trying to stop the dam from breaking and flooding the town. But I did have the support and mentorship of a great VP for a short time, who appreciated my honest and hard-working approach to the job. But at the same time I had serious problems with the Sales managers.

In hindsight, the only thing I can think of that might have helped me back then was to try harder to reach out to the sales managers in my region and establish a good working relationship. But I was that same guy who kept overestimating projects, and then I was tagged as the protege of the new VP, who had not endeared himself to them, mostly because he shared my commitment to honesty in quoting services. Then there were my former co-workers, now subordinates, who felt they were much better qualified for my job, and were constantly undermining me and lobbying management to replace me, hopefully with themselves.

So that VP was replaced by the third and final President. He and the new President had a previous relationship, and their strategy was to get the company profitable and attractive enough to sell off. I was given a scaled-down role by the new VP, which I was actually thankful for, and continued working long hours. But at least I mostly worked at home. And, even though the new guy was a demanding taskmaster, and I often worked 12 to 15 hour days, at least some of the stress of the impossible situation I had faced before was relieved somewhat.

So then the sale was made of my company to a very large software company. The president and my boss, the VP, left happily with their millions, and the rest of us remained and wondered what would happen.

Well, I suppose it should have been easy to predict what did happen next. The same characters who tried incessantly to undermine and sabotage me because of their own ambitions redoubled their efforts. Before I knew it, I was being identified as the person to blame for some projects gone bad. And the finger was being pointed by the very people who were actually responsible for the problems. In one case, I wasn't even involved in a project, but somehow the person directly responsible took the opportunity to point the finger of blame for problems with that project to me when I wasn't around to defend myself. I might never have found out, except a friend who participated in a conference call told me about what happened later.

And the big difference this time was the change in management to the new big company. I never had the opportunity to meet my direct supervisor, even though I reported to him for nearly a year. The North American President was a top-down manager who relied on his own insight and intuition to run the company, and did not bother himself with advice or feedback from the ranks. So whatever reached his ears was what he acted upon. And in any organization like that, those who are most aggressive at political gamesmanship are the victors, at least in the short term.

I was unceremoniously demoted back to the ranks of ordinary consultant, not even given my old title back of "Project Manager". My salary was cut to about 40% of what it had been, although my bonus plan gave me the opportunity to make back almost all of my previous salary if I was highly productive.

So I made the change. I spent about six months planning, evaluating business plans and franchise opportunities, and submitted my notice. Once again, I felt a freedom similar to when I joined that dynamic and growing company at the beginning. Now I can earn plenty continuing to do the consulting work for the big software company as an independent contractor, but they remain so poorly managed and difficult to work with that I am developing a marketing campaign to sell my services to their customers directly.

I've recently talked with some old friends who are still working for the big software company. They tell me not much has changed. That the best politicians mostly remain in the higher positions, but that upper management has begun to catch on and has already either demoted or terminated several of them. Others, though, have been promoted even higher. And the company remains an uncaring, monolithic, top-down place where morale and teamwork are nothing but slogans.

So am I still glad I left? You bet.