I love the still of summer. I know the distant hill is September with all its chaos. No more fun Fridays! I made deliberate life choices so that my family could be far removed from the frenetic energy and remember that the NYC life is not the norm. My son grabbed my hand a few weeks ago, when we reached the summit of a hike in Alaska, and said, “You really like it here don’t you?” Oh yes, this is everything. It’s imperative we re-learn to chill during the warm months because we’ll need to reach for that sense of calm throughout the year. It will all start to hit the fan in large doses and we need to be prepared.
Recently I’ve seen a significant number of people in our orbit lose their jobs. The startling notice and behind-the-scenes corporate machinations have truly come out of the blue and have felt like a gut punch to those around us. We talk a lot about making lemonade from lemons but we forget that it’s not a two-step process. Finding the sugar, bowl, ladle and patience may take months and for those in leadership positions, it can take well over a year. Making peace with change comes after shock, sadness, and anger. And it’s an even scarier ride if you are the sole provider of the family. All you want to do is speed up that process. Being methodical in the face of fear is a learned skill. When things start to click, they will click fast. That’s when you will start making a plan and network the hell out of it. You WILL get that offer, and when you do, NEGOTIATE THE HELL OUT OF IT.
Alex did just that. After years of nurturing and growing a company it went under, and at 42 Alex needed to think through how to pick up the pieces. However, this time around, Alex was determined to sort this out under the right conditions. One piece that was looming over the whole process was the reality of high school and college costs. The big takeaway, NEGOTIATE LIKE A BOSS and pay attention to the details. Read the details of this journey below.
By the way...WAGER is creating services and content to help individuals develop their compensation skills wherever they are in their career. We are also starting to partner with Fortune 100 companies to bring compensation conversations to employees directly at the office. That’s a huge leap forward for WAGER and companies! Check out our website and help us grow! We have interesting partnerships developing in the very near future so stay tuned.
As always, stay strong. Go forth and WAGER!
Cindy
CEO, WAGER