Back in August 2020, I posted a blog about SOAR stories. SOAR stories are a fantastic way to reflect on Situations that seemed challenging at the time because of certain Obstacles. In order to succeed, you took Action and the Result was something you can be proud of, and which contributed to who you are today. It built character.
You many think that these stories mean nothing. After all, they are just stories. However, ALL stories have a meaning; ALL stories disclose something about the characters in them. The character-traits are what keep people interested and yearning for more.
The story is only one part of what makes doing this exercise valuable. The more important part is rediscovering who you are at your core and what attributes distinguish you from others when faced with challenges.
I'd like to continue sharing some of my personal SOAR stories and the characteristics that they exhibit.
What are some of your SOAR stories? If you can't see your inner #basass, we can work together to rediscover it! I'd love to hear them and publish them on this blog!
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While on vacation in Japan with my sister in 2014, I received a voicemail on my mobile phone from Microsoft. After 8 years and a lot of success, I was part of a layoff. I loved Microsoft and the people whom I supported. However, months earlier, I had been re-org’d into a group and under a manager that just wasn't a good fit. Ultimately, I had been unhappy and was considering a change for a while, but was afraid to make a change. This is such a normal emotion. Microsoft made the decision for me and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Part of the severance package from Microsoft is lifetime access to career coaching & job placement company. What a generous and supportive gift!
I found myself sitting in a room full of people who were in my same situation; many had made contributions for a significant amount of time greater than mine. Some had not written a resume in over a decade. Out of embarrassment or shame, others refused to disclose their situations to their families and being "at work" actually meant spending all day at the job placement office looking for alternative opportunities.
Unlike many of my peers in the same situation, and only after a few sessions, I immediately knew what I wanted to do: Leveraging my skills and resources from my time at Microsoft, I was going to start my own consulting company, providing outsourcing strategy consulting services I provided my previous business partners, but for different companies. My plan was to help vendors become better partners as well as help multinational companies think smarter and more strategically around outsourcing vendors.
I contacted the vendors with whom I worked and immediately obtained clients. I was making more money with my own consulting company than I had at Microsoft without the hassles and stress of big-corporate obligations and responsibilities.
Being affected by any type of downsizing is scary and comes with many emotions. However, if you take inventory the skills you have obtained through your experiences and maintain a positive mindset, these types of situations are actually windows of opportunities to reflect on that which you really want and just go for it!!
If you have been affected by a layoff and would like help discovering your next opportunity, contact me so we can discuss it!
The greatest opportunities are on the other side of change! What opportunity is out there for you?