Fired? Stuck? Bored? – There’s Hope

Pete Carroll as Head Coach of The New England Patriots

I got a call two years ago from a senior executive who is a close friend of mine. He sounded depressed and explained he had just been laid off. Within a year, he did find a new position – and as you can guess, he said to me just last week, “Gary, being laid off was a blessing in disguise.”

My friend is not alone. Those, far more famous than he, have been in this position. Case-in-point was Steve Jobs. His quote on being fired: “It turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

We see public firings, especially in the NFL. Five coaches were fired by the end of Black Monday following the close of the 2013 NFL season: Washington's Mike Shanahan, Detroit's Jim Schwartz, Minnesota's Leslie Frazier, Tampa Bay's Greg Schiano, and Cleveland Browns’ Rob Chudzinski.

But let’s look at the history of some NFL fired coaches’ comebacks.

Of course, winning Super Bowl coach, Pete Carroll was let go by the Jets and the Patriots years ago. Carroll noted that getting fired changed him. He said recently in an interview, “Through the years, the biggest change really did happen after I was fired at New England.”

Bill Belichick as Head Coach of The Cleveland Browns

After New England, he had to rethink his life, as he was not getting phone calls returned for new coaching opportunities. However, he was lucky: USC gave him a chance to re-enter coaching in the college ranks. Carroll noted that he grew and transitioned at USC, and as he said, “Really, I haven’t been the same since (he was at USC). It was a great change. And it was really about getting close to what was really important to me and hoping to get an opportunity that I could express that.”

While New England was a mismatch at the time for Carroll, it was a blessing for the Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning coach, Bill Belichick. The Cleveland Browns fired him in 1995. After a few stints as an assistant head coach, he was hired as the head coach of New England in 2000.

But, change can be exactly what people need – as noted by Pete Carroll’s story.

Often people are in companies that are simply the wrong fit. It seems that culture and timing is everything. People need to be in the right place at the right time to succeed.

Paul Allen, owner of the Seattle Seahawks created the right context for Pete Carroll. Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, created that for Bill Belichick. The great organizations and managers create the culture and context for success. But it is also timing, good fortune and chemistry.

I learned about creating a winning environment from Michael Bloomberg, when he interviewed for my book No Fear of Failure. He said, “My job is to recruit, attract, and compensate people; provide a moral compass; match their skill sets to different needs in the organization and then to make sure that they work collaboratively and collectively.”

It is no wonder that Michael Bloomberg fuels success. Yet, we all don’t work for people like Michael Bloomberg – and you may find yourself in the wrong “fit.”

In fact, our company intelligence indicates that almost a third of executives decide if they are going to stay or leave their job within the first week.

Leaving your job may be the restart you need. I am not saying it won’t be scary – but you must soldier on. And you just can’t pick something that only puts milk in the refrigerator. At the end of the day, your lack of passion will be transparent. The key is to find that next situation where you and the organization can succeed. It is out there for everyone.

The one thing I have learned is that critical to everyone’s success is to never stop learning – learn about anything and everything from anyone. Don’t limit learning – you can learn at home, work or play.

Most important, learn about yourself – and make learning a habit.

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For reference, here is a story of notable people who were fired. The list includes:

• Walt Disney
• Mark Cuban
• Oprah Winfrey
• Anna Wintour
• Michael Bloomberg
• Jerry Seinfeld
• Truman Capote
• Robert Redford
• Lee Iacocca
• Bernie Marcus
• Howard Stern
• Elvis
• Thomas Edison

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Photo Credits: Keith Torrie/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images (Pete Carroll); George Gojkovich/Getty Images (Bill Belichick)