When a friend had a job offer from a very good company he could not move. The reason? He said (almost his words) “Subra I have been with these brothers (not mentioning the business too much of a give away) for 14 years, they have been good to me, and I know that I am being valued”. I found the whole thing funny. Leaving a family run business to join an MNC bank made sense to me. I met him and his wife (and brother) trying to talk him out of the love story. To cut a long story short, it did not cut ice.

So he continued there. Exactly 13 months later the elder brother died in a freak accident.

Younger brother wanted to downsize – he felt he did not have the management depth to handle the growing business even though the children of the elder brother would have joined. The younger brother was sure that the downsizing would start with the most expensive resources. So my friend was the first to be asked to go. Now for a guy of our gen and a Tambrahm losing his job was traumatic.

My logic to him was the following….

1. You joined there for a purpose, that purpose is over: In our journey from say Ghatkopar to New york, you take a taxi to Santacruz airport. At Santacruz you cannot fall in love with the taxi. The taxi’s job is over. You need to get into a plane. Exactly so with your qualification or choice of job. It has taken you to a particular destination. You may have to change your mode of transport.
2. Professionals need to grow: So if you are not growing in your organisation, or your organisation is not prioritizing your growth, you need to go to a place which sees more value in you.
3. Your colleagues do not want you to go: This is humbug. Your colleagues are jealous of your success, will miss your hard work, or want you to stay till they leave! Offer them the job that you have got, and they will jump. Turn the tables and say “If you had got this fabulous job offer, would you not have left?” – please do not hope for an honest answer.
4. In 3 months time the people who were sagely advising you would have also left!
5. When a boss told his assistant “I myself would have suggested if I did not find good prospects for you”. Sounded too damn hollow, as I had seen the boss attending a Head Hunter’s dinner the previous week :-). The boss quit 5 weeks after this dialog. Of course he went from Head Marketing and Sales to a CEO of a smaller company on a 30% hike in salary.
6. No company feels guilty about sacking. Yes some executives do, but over all it is considered fair if a company sacks. So sacking the company is not a bad idea at all.
7. Staying back because of Guilt is the worst way to harm you and the company!! People who stay back because of guilt stay back thinking that they have done the company a favor. However in 6 months time the company may sack you out of vengeance.
8. If your boss really had your good at heart, he/she knew it was coming. Give me a break. If your boss says he did not see it coming, you need to work for a smarter guy. High time.
9. If the company has a bad time, you would be sacked (he actually did not believe this, luckily his wife and brother reminded him of our conversation). To me this was still a failure because I could not get him to act 2 years earlier.
10. In a family concern if you have developed a good rapport with one brother / father / uncle, the others may not value your advise.

So stop feeling guilty. If you were so valuable as they are making it out to be why the hell was it not visible in your latest appraisal?

Is it always about money? No. In most cases it is about money. Sometimes it is about more money.