HOW I EMBRACED A 2020 LAYOFF TO CAPTURE A NEW LIFE SEASON

James Meadows • June 8, 2025

Losing a position might be one of the best things to happen to you.

Introduction

Everyone’s story is unique, as is mine. As I chronicle it, my story seemed to organize itself naturally into four three-week blocks. Instead of imposing my so-called editorial skills to the story, I will tell the story the way it arrived—by the timeframes.

My first three weeks

There was no shock. I knew that this was coming. COVID-19 was affecting everyone in one way or another. I could read the handwriting on the wall.

Coincidentally, I had two weeks of vacation scheduled beginning just two days after my boss announced the RIF in process to our team. Therefore, when I checked in on my company email on the first day of my vacation, I found a meeting request with my boss for the Wednesday after my vacation time. No subject was included. In my mind, I instantly put two and two together and essentially concluded that I had been identified as one of those among thousands whose position was being eliminated. On the bright side, this gave me a two-week head start on preparing myself for a career transition.

Although I was disappointed that I had not survived the RIF, I was simultaneously glad and excited for the new opportunity this development represented. My faith told me when God closes one door, he is opening a new door. I simply have to find it.

I had been fortunate throughout my life to never have faced this situation. Now, at age 64, it was a completely new journey for me. Nevertheless, my insatiably curious intellect, heart, and spirit, always deeply committed to personal, professional, and spiritual growth, were passionately looking forward to all I would learn by navigating this major albeit unexpected life transition. Having observed many other people face layoffs and seeing the wide variety of responses and outcomes, I was excited by the challenge. How would I now do? Would I capitalize on this event as a stimulating, marvelous, new open door to a new career? Would I successfully leverage my personal and professional assets into an exciting career promotion? Would I crash and burn?

Additionally, I had always been the person that constantly mentored others about remaining agile and optimistic regardless of what the seas of change might bring. This was my chance to demonstrate that I genuinely practice what I preach.

In terms of how I was treated by my company, I felt extremely blessed. Quite simply, the company “did the right thing.” My 15-plus years of professional service were ethically, respectfully, and carefully considered. I was extremely impressed with all aspects of how the company set me up with professional and financial career-transition benefits.

One of the professional benefits was a membership with LHH, a global leader in providing professional career-transition services. This was a tremendous resource. Although I was strongly self-educated on career transitions, I dearly appreciated the opportunity to have such a high-powered, proven organization by my side. I anticipated they would be a fantastic sounding board, a rich wisdom resource, a training extravaganza, and a welcome mitigator to my blind spots.

Being unemployed is a fulltime job and then some—assuming you are doing it right. Having never been in this situation, the reality set in that this was a completely new universe to me. Its gravity sobered me, and equally important, excited me. I entered into a period of very deep reflection about my career redirection. I knew that this situation was a golden opportunity for me.

Given those uniquely defining launchpad preconditions, I passionately committed myself to two fundamental imperatives for this transition:

I will remain deeply introspective about all aspects of my personal, professional, and spiritual navigation throughout this period so that I will extract every gram of knowledge and wisdom from this experience.
I will impose no limitations on what my future direction should be, but rather will remain 100% open to any and all paths because I do not want my assumptions or prejudices to be a limitation on all I can become as a person and a professional.

These two imperatives were powerful and genuine. As one flawed human being among billions, I clearly knew how easily I can make mistakes. A marvelously fascinating fruitful path might await me, but I knew that my imperfections could easily blind me to that path. I definitely did not want that to happen. Therefore, I regularly, randomly, passionately repeated these two imperatives to myself, and I shared them with my wife Kathy and those closest to me.

My second three weeks

My second three weeks began with a couple profitable LHH meetings. I had the chance to work on revising my resume with a branding specialist. This was extremely valuable because it provided many fresh insights. For example, I could exercise flexibility by creating two or three resumes targeting different career paths. This strategy would diversify “hooks in the water” increasing the probability of a catch.

The second meeting was with my assigned coach. Now that I had been so fully engaged as the “unemployed guy” for the past three weeks, I had many ideas, questions, and discussion points for which I dearly needed a sounding board. My coach was that person.

The combined wisdom of these two people helped me to regroup forces and achieve a measure of redirection into my future. Some key takeaways:

Because my qualifications, experience, and interests pointed to two separate viable career paths, simultaneously pursuing them was reassuring and exciting.
Obviously, this strategy required carefully designing two resumes, two marketing plans, and two target positions. Yes, it was a juggling act, yet one with which I was very comfortable.

My third three weeks

My third three weeks continued a whirlwind of extremely careful, intense, intelligent (I thought!), job prospecting. I had a particular job for which I had already endured multiple panel interviews. After a finalist round, a day later I was informed that the company chose a different finalist. On the surface, this was extremely disappointing. Nevertheless, on a much deeper level within my soul, I knew God had something better ordained for me. I simply didn’t know what it was right now. But that’s okay because that is the way God works.

My fourth three weeks

In my fourth three-week period, significant, clear direction arrived in three ways. First, I made some key connections in fintech (financial technology). Fintech was a sector I had always tracked yet never had the opportunity to deep dive. And more strategically, my connections led me to the credit card payment processing industry. Second, I learned that credit card payment processing gave me the perfect opportunity to tailor the major elements of this new season in my life in a manner I had always wanted to achieve—I would be 100% self-employed, I would work out of my home, and I would be providing a vital service to businesses throughout the USA. Third, everything about this three-week period completely infused my entire being with the deep awareness that I was passionately and productively refocusing my multidecade career of accomplishment and experience into this new season in my life. To summarize, this fourth three-week period massively inspired my excitement and confidence that my future was very bright.

My new season in life

At the time of this writing, I am now five years out from my layoff. Many powerful realities stand out to me as I reflect on where I was at in 2020 and where I am at in 2025. I want to address only what I perceive to be the most profound ones, not only because they were my experience, but more importantly because they have the highest probability of genuinely helping the reader.

As much as I cherished every ounce of opportunity that corporate America gave to me, that of course does not equate to zero stress. About four weeks out from the layoff, it suddenly dawned on me that an entire level of what I will call “background stress” had completely evaporated from my mind, body, and spirit. I felt like a brand new person with fresh energy! This experience was extremely refreshing and empowering.

Certainly my new season in life provided its own stresses and challenges. Nevertheless, given the context, I was massively more in control of my time, my plans, my environment, and my destiny. Therefore, the new stresses and challenges have become inspiring and invigorating in a deeper way compared to my prior professional roles.

Human nature being what it is, we tend to marginalize our own accomplishments and experience. Throughout this new season in my life, I have frequently found that it is other people that toot my horn for me. Nevertheless, standing confidently (not arrogantly) in a proven track record is not dishonorable. When relevant, sharing key elements of my background with certain persons and groups has been a catalyst for connection, collaboration, and cohesion.

Business networking became infinitely more important. Because adding value has been my lifelong passion, I joined several additional networking groups, chambers, private clubs, service organizations, and nonprofits to contribute as much time and talent as possible. Many of them asked me to serve in various leadership capacities, and I was delighted to step into some of those roles. They expanded my visibility in various communities and granted me larger platforms of influence. Being able to continue learning from others while also mentoring others has been extremely fulfilling. Although I have always cultivated a quality relationship network, my relationship network today is larger and stronger than ever.

Without in any way throwing stones at my time in corporate America, I want to make a legitimate observation: Had I never left corporate America in 2020, I never would have obtained the countless opportunities, experiences, relationships, achievements, and collaborations for which I am so tremendously grateful today. In God’s grand plan for my life, leaving corporate America when I did was essential to my future success, and I continue to see that with each passing day.

Additionally, here is the natural human reason that is true—I had to encounter a brand new season in my life in order to apprehend all these vanguard opportunities. I had to step out of my old context and into a completely new context. In doing so, my mind, heart, soul, and spirit became open to a new universe, and I am indescribably grateful that I did step into that new universe.

I have always been the kind of person that is passionate, enthusiastic, and excited to get up each day and do all the terrific things I am privileged to do. Nevertheless, at this new season in my life, I am even more passionate, more enthusiastic, and more excited to get up each day and do all the terrific things I am privileged to do!

Conclusion

I hope that my story helpfully illustrates a successful navigation of what can often be an extremely painful and disruptive career transition. Furthermore, I hope it inspires you to rethink how these kinds of situations genuinely are opportunities in disguise (even though some of them are awfully well disguised!). Hence, as I reflect on all my experience, especially over the past five years, I leave you with my personal, professional summary of these universal career-transition lessons. I posit that you will maximize your career success if you can implement these key lessons in your own career transitions.

Maintain a positive attitude, even in the toughest circumstances. Instead of focusing on all the negatives of your situation, force yourself to explore what the positives are.
Reach out to your closest confidantes, friends, and loved ones to gain any perspectives you could be missing. Those special inner-circle people are there for a reason. Listen to them, yet exercise discernment.
Take wise advantage of every possible resource available to you from every possible place. So many helpful powerful tools and resources are available, but they have zero value unless you choose to tap them.
Declare to yourself that nothing is off the table. Many a person has regretted navigating through a career transition with a narrow mind, thereby sabotaging what should have been a marvelous new career journey.
Never discount how your prior experience and credentials might give you key leverage for your future. God uses all your past to prepare you for today; He is using today to prepare you for tomorrow.
Think deeply about your unique personality, skillsets, and preferences—they will provide crucial insights into what opportunities you should explore, and which ones you should bypass.
Move quickly, but not too quickly. You need to be a person of action so as not to become lackadaisical, yet not so energetic that you are making uninformed decisions.
Although making money is important, it cannot be the sole driver. Give top priority to how you will best serve humanity while nurturing your daily passion, enthusiasm, and sense of destiny.

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GAME OF THRONES LEADERSHIP LESSONS

By James Meadows • June 29, 2024

The earliest days of this series present fundamentally significant leadership content.

FIDELITY TO SCIENCE

By James Meadows • August 22, 2023

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A BETTER WORD THAN HONESTY

By James Meadows • August 9, 2023

We explore the overuse or inappropriate use of the words "honest," "honesty," and "honestly." Much of the overuse or inappropriate use of these words is in contexts that intrinsically message the audience that the speaker is not trustworthy. I call the overuse or inappropriate use of these words in this context HONESTY VALIDATORS because the speaker believes they validate the truth being spoken. We need a solution to this problem. My solution is to replace these honesty validators with CLARITY VALIDATORS. Instead of trying to be honest, try to be clear. Replacing "honest," "honesty," and "honestly," with "clear," "clarity," and "clearly," produces significantly more benefit to the speaker and to the audience.

WHEN THE ORIGINAL IS NOT THE BEST

By James Meadows • August 7, 2023

It's the real thing alright!

MY 30-YEAR PC SAGA

By James Meadows • May 30, 2023

Reflecting on 30 years as a PC user.

GRAVELY EXPENSIVE YET UNDENIABLY VALUABLE TRAINING LESSONS

By James Meadows • July 26, 2020

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MILLENNIALS AND GENERATION Z FAVOR HIGHER EDUCATION

By James Meadows • August 13, 2019

Although anyone can and will criticize higher education, millennials are evidently smart enough to know its value. In spite of the horror stories about student loan debt, academic disasters, and wrong career turns, millennials have boasted one of the highest graduation rates of any generation to date. Generation Z may soon surpass them too as Laura A. Scione, managing editor of eCampus News reports : “ Despite growing questions around the value of college and return on investment in tuition, just 25 percent of Generation Z students say they believe they can have a rewarding career without going to college, compared to 40 percent of millennials. Eighty percent of Generation Z respondents and 74 percent of millennials agree that college either has a fair amount of value, is a good value, or is an excellent value. Only 20 percent of Generation Z students and 26 percent of millennials said college has ‘little value’ or ‘no value at all.’ ” Good for them! The statistics remain on their side—and the side of anyone who pursues higher education. Anthony P. Carnevale is the director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Based on his research, that trend will only continue (Gillian B. White “Those Savvy Millennials” The Atlantic , May 2015, p. 38): " In 1973, 32% of jobs did not even require a high school diploma, 9% required a bachelor’s degree, and 7% required a master’s degree or higher. It is projected that by 2020, 12% of jobs will not require a high school diploma, 24% will require a bachelor’s degree, and 11% will require a master’s degree or higher. " Derek Newton wrote an article entitled “Please Stop Asking Whether College Is Worth It” in which his opening declaration gets right to the point: “ Colleges and universities are still the best, most direct path to a good career that pays well. ” In addition to those insights, the unemployment figures consistently reveal the enduring value of higher education. The seasonally adjusted July 2019 unemployment rate for persons not having a high school diploma is 5.1% ( Bureau of Labor Statistics ). Having a high school diploma drops that rate to 3.6% and some college or a two-year degree drops it further to 3.2%. Pretty good trending, would you agree? Finally, if we look at people having a four-year degree, a graduate degree, or a doctoral degree, the unemployment rate is a low 2.2%. Higher education’s edge is especially clear when you consider the range of these numbers over the education level. Look at the two ends of the spectrum: less-than-high school (5.1%) versus a four-year degree or higher (2.2%). Consistently, regardless of the measured time, the unemployment rate for a less-than-high-school-educated worker is two to four times larger than for the college-degreed worker. This is why, when people seek my counsel about career planning, higher education remains one of my most significant emphases. Education pays. Degrees still rock. Regardless of how good or bad the economy is, regardless of how many individual academic and career disasters can be cited, and regardless of how loudly the antidegree crowd howls, you are still in a better position having a degree than not having a degree. The good news for the millennials and Generation Z is that they have arrived at the same conclusion and now they will enjoy the benefits.

OPERATION VARSITY BLUES ETHICAL OPPORTUNITIES

By James Meadows • August 5, 2019

A few months ago, US News reported on the academic admissions scandal, Operation Varsity Blues : " The case—the largest college admission scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice—exposes a long-running racketeering scheme dating back to 2011, in which parents paid an admissions consultant a combined $25 million to help students cheat on college entrance exams and to get them into elite colleges and universities as recruited athletes when in reality they were not athletes. ” This was a profoundly disappointing situation that displays the worst of our human failure on many levels. In addition to its magnitude, this particular scam especially grabbed my attention due to its higher-education context. It occurs within the confluence of many deeply significant factors: Mentoring developing young adults. Student life transitions including high school to college, and college to the professional world. Parental ethics and leadership. Student accountability and fairness. Respect for the processes and institutions of higher education. The responsibilities that are intrinsic to power and privilege. Personal character and integrity. Student character and integrity. Parental character and integrity. Professional character and integrity. Societal and academic implications. These are weighty matters that should give us all cause for concern. Specifically, they should remind us of six essential ethical realities: 1—Power and privilege do not equal immunity. Whether in the Spider-Man world (“with great power comes great responsibility”) or in sacred writings (“to whom much is given, much is required”), we understand that large influence travels with commensurate accountability. Just because a parent might hold a position of influence, have a prominent name, or possess significant fiscal assets does not mean the law of the land and academic admissions policies do not apply. Many benefits come with position, name, and assets—immunity from the law and organizational policies should not be among them. 2—Bad outcomes can manifest from an apparent good heart. A pure heart never guarantees a noble outcome. That is because all of us are subject to change and sometimes that change equals corruption. A parent of a one-month-old child might begin with a pure heart that leads to noble outcomes. However, fast forward that same parent 17 years and now vicariously experiencing that child’s college admissions stress. Do we have an outcome guarantee? Of course, it depends on the parent. Many noble outcomes ensue, but many does not equal all. Some parents in their quest to provide the best for their child will succumb to the temptation to step outside proper boundaries. Doing so is seemingly justified by that apparent good heart: “ I’m doing this because I want to give my child the best. ” Although we can all to some extent understand this sentiment, it in no way excuses or justifies the unethical actions and outcomes. If anything, it reinforces how vulnerable we all are. Therein lies the need for a constant ethical scrutiny over ourselves and our communities. 3—Unethical practices to gain entry into an ethical institution fundamentally disqualify the candidate. On the most basic sensible and philosophical level, by definition any ethical institution must deny any candidate entry when that entry attempt was unethically based. Any other action makes a mockery of the ethical institution and its entry process. Our academic institutions are among the tallest pillars of our humanity. The fundamental preservation of their purity must remain a constant commitment by every human being directly or indirectly connected to them. 4—Falsifying your child's profile only immerses that child into a universe that is fundamentally and unfairly built on false pretenses. When we enter into a new universe by virtue of truth and integrity, we do the best service to ourselves and others. To enter into a new universe not arrived at via truth and integrity will degrade and undermine all aspects of that new universe both for ourselves and others. Going into a new universe is something that the student should want to do by being his or her authentic best person. You cannot be your authentic best person without first being that person. In being that person, you then genuinely display that person. Therefore, no one can be that best person without truth and integrity. 5—Secretly shielding your child from the consequences of that child's behavior, aptitudes, and performance vehemently disrespects that child's personhood, and this is an abuse of your parenthood. Parenthood is an extremely personal, overwhelming, grave, complicated, rewarding, painful, amazing, and beautiful role. However, none of those adjectives imply that the parent owns that child. Nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, the child is “on loan” to the parent for a limited time, during which the parent has a stewardship responsibility. An intrinsic stewardship component of parenthood is releasing that child from your tutelage. That releasing process begins the moment the child is born and slowly continues for nearly two decades (in most cases). Although parents may struggle to varying degrees with the releasing process, each parent generally embraces the releasing process out of a respect for the child’s personhood. Fundamentally, the best action a parent can take is to respect the child’s personhood; the worst action a parent can take is to disrespect the child’s personhood. When you send your child out into the real world, anything that you directly or indirectly do to disrespect that child’s personhood does that child no favors. Rather, it does that child an inexcusable disfavor. 6—The university should be the grooming and proving ground for the professional world. From the student’s first connection to the college, the grooming and proving ground springs into action. If the student takes this opportunity seriously, then the stage is set for an ongoing personal and professional growth experience hosted by that college. It is an extremely significant academic development opportunity while simultaneously presenting somewhat of a preface to the yet-to-come extremely significant professional development opportunity that more fully continues postgraduation. Lifelong patterns embed themselves into how that student executes personal and professional growth. That total process deserves and demands nothing less than a student’s pure authentic personal and professional investment. Polluting any aspect of that process by deceptive practices is reprehensible. CONCLUSION Navigating higher education was never intended to be a walk in the park. Young people and their parents must understand this. However, by embracing these six ethical realities, we will navigate higher education with virtue, class, and character—and those are the inner assets of the soul that no academic credential can provide.

CRASH TEST DUMMIES UNIONIZE

By James Meadows • April 1, 2019

In an unprecedented breakthrough decision today, over 177,000 crash test dummies were given final approval by federal labor regulators to form the Crash Test Dummies of America labor union (CTDA). The CTDA plans to fight for crash test dummies’ working conditions and fair treatment. According to the CTDA union organizers, Anita Karr, Moe Mentum, and Cole Lijjun, their top priorities are: Limiting the quantity and types of crash tests per week. Strengthening torso, limb, and head replacement parts entitlements. Adopting a more compassionate approach to crash test dummy recycling. Improving the pay scale by replacing Monopoly money with real cash. The PETCTD (People for the Ethical Treatment of Crash Test Dummies) has endorsed the new labor union. PETCTD president Banng M. Hardar commented: “Being a crash test dummy is not an easy job. Most people could not handle the working conditions. We are very gratified that crash test dummies have taken a major step forward to receive the same wages, benefits, and equal treatment under the law that human workers take for granted.” The CTDA is in negotiations with various networks to launch a reality TV series to draw attention to the longstanding difficulties of being a crash test dummy. The title of the pending series is “Crashing Bad.” The CTDA plans additional kickoff events later this year. The union has already created its slogan: “When it comes to workers’ rights, we are not dummies!”

KEY ETHICAL QUESTIONS

By James Meadows • February 13, 2019

Ethical questions are often easy to address. However, sometimes ethical quandaries can be overwhelming. In some situations, no easy answers exist and you are forced to select the best possible option from among several poor options. Regardless of the depth of the ethical quandary, I have found that certain guiding questions can help to elucidate the decision process. While I make no claims at being an expert, I humbly offer these for your consideration. When I face a tough ethical decision, these are the questions that have helped me the most: Will my decision create any ethical dilemmas, and if so, have I arrived at the best option among several less-than-ideal options? Is there any opportunity to renegotiate with involved parties to resolve the ethical difficulties? Is there a creative decision that I have not yet identified that would shed new light on the situation, thereby resolving the ethical dilemma? Is there a way to reframe the problem so that the ethical concerns are satisfied while moving all parties forward? Will my decision enhance my organization’s brand and reputation? Will my decision enhance my brand and reputation? Will my decision allow me to preserve my spiritual or religious convictions? How would I view my decision 20 years from today? How would others view my decision 20 years from today? How would my significant other or my children view my decision 20 years from today? Will my decision allow me to preserve my personal integrity? Will my decision allow me to preserve my professional integrity? Will my decision allow me to preserve my prior commitments to people and organizations? Will my decision respect the rights, privileges, and preferences of the people involved? Will my decision create the highest probability to do the most good for the most people over the long run?