See Is That Co-Worker Really ‘Off to a New Adventure’? Almost every goodbye message from a soon to be former colleague sounds like the start of something exciting. Don’t buy it by Callum Borchers of The WSJ. Excerpts:
"The message just landed in your inbox or LinkedIn feed with all the cheer of a holiday greeting card:
I’m leaving to pursue new opportunities!
I’m excited for my next adventure!!
Can’t share the details yet, but stay tuned!!!
Sometimes, there really is something cool in the works, and the exit was purely voluntary. Often, the situation is a bit more complicated.
People who’ve been pushed out—or need a change after burning out or hitting a ceiling—seldom admit it up front. And the old saw about spending more time with family…well, didn’t we all do plenty of that during the pandemic everything-at-home era? Better to frame the end of a job as a triumph, or at least a step in the journey toward self-fulfillment.
So many of us want our jobs to reflect a sense of great purpose, which can make it unbearable to suggest that change is anything less than destiny calling.
“It corresponds to how much people now talk about following your passion and being authentic to your true self,” says Adam Galinsky, a professor of leadership and ethics at Columbia Business School.
Vague, euphemistic announcements about chief executive officers’ departures are practically an art form. Walt Disney Co. recently thanked Bob Chapek for his leadership throughout the pandemic and said he had stepped down as CEO. There was no explanation other than that the “uniquely situated” Robert Iger was returning to lead the company. A press release didn’t mention that Disney executives and investors had alerted the board of directors to concerns about Mr. Chapek’s management.
Salesforce Inc. co-CEO Bret Taylor said a couple of weeks ago in a press release that he wants to “return to my entrepreneurial roots” and asserted that now—barely a year after his appointment—is the time to do just that. The abrupt career shift is hard to square with the company’s original plan for Mr. Taylor to help lead its next chapter, not to mention the tensions that had been growing between him and Salesforce co-founder (and now solo CEO) Marc Benioff, according to people familiar with the executives.
We nonbosses are carefully managing our farewell messages too, as if we were running investor relations at Me Inc. Controlling the narrative can feel especially important when many businesses are cutting staff, and as economists are warning of a looming recession.
“Nobody wants to appear injured in the marketplace,” or like damaged goods, says Dale Gibbons, a management consultant in Louisville, Ky."
"CEOs and corporations, which portray every transition as smooth and well-planned"
"many professional breakups are recast as the beginnings of thrilling new exploits."
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