"It's not about performance..."

"It's not about performance", I was told as I was being laid off. These words were meant to be a comfort: I wasn't a poor performer, I didn't screw up, it's not about me. "In fact", he continued, "we can't even talk about performance". That caught my attention. Even in my distracted state, the "L-word" came to mind: lawyers.

It didn't used to be this way. Companies followed Darwin's laws and it was "survival of the fittest" when downsizing came. The problem: how do you win in court over who is "fit" versus "not fit". Answer: you don't. But corporate lawyers aren't stupid and they learned their lesson: if you focus on the function - the function is going away, the function is being outsourced, etc. - you have a winning argument.

And so today no employee is safe. If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time you're gone, even if you've walked on water. Think of it as a giant game of Corporate Musical Chairs. You may have survived this time because there was an empty chair. But sooner or later the music will stop, all chairs are taken and you are left standing. And then, so sorry Mr. Walk on Water, it's not about performance and you are history.

God bless the legal profession. Where would we be without them?

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