Trina Left Iowa » Corporate Business

Reaction to an Acquisition

Trina — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:13:40 +0000

These are not the views of my employer. They are my own views and do not reflect my employer’s views. This article is not intended as a statement regarding the future of the company–it is simply my reactions to being an employee during an acquisition.

We all dread hearing, “Company X has been acquired by Company Y,” especially when Company X is your current employer. In my mind, the word “acquisition” conjures up images of a company’s logo on a billboard being dramatically taken down and a new one unveiled in its place, hordes of men in suits marching arrogantly down their newly acquired corridors and worker bees spending their entire days speculating on what this new deal means to their jobs. That quote has never been a reality for me until this year.

In between 6am alarm snoozes, I noticed some new text messages on my iPhone. They were tweets from my boss (yes, I have my boss’s tweets texted to my phone…) saying that our big company had been acquired by an even bigger company for X amount of dollars. Now, if that doesn’t make a person wake up, I don’t know what does!! I fired up my laptop and read the news via email from our CEO, various links on twitter and our official press releases.

As I attempted to wrap my pre-coffee brain around this, I started to go through all the emotions: surprise/shock, anger, fear, acceptance, a glimmer of optimism and hope. The first images to pop up in my head were similar to the aforementioned ones and were mostly doom and gloom. That’s when the questions began swirling in my head…

What Does This Mean For Me??

First, my mind was fixated on questions related to, “What does this mean for me??” Immediately I wanted details on how this would change my world. I was asking things like: Will my job be eliminated? Will my benefits change? Will my salary change? Will I still work in the same place? Will I still work for the same person?

After a shower, I realized these questions were completely futile until a few weeks had gone by. There was truly nothing I could do right at that moment. I’d done well in my previous role and was showing promise in my new one. I told myself to have confidence in my performance and know that I deserved to be a part of this gigantic conglomerate. Positive Note: this even bigger company has operations in way more countries and does all kinds of different things which could mean for incredible job opportunities for me.

What Does This Mean For My Company??

Next, my mind fixated on questions related to, “What does this mean for my company??” Again I wanted details about things like: Will there be mass layoffs and reorgs? What will our company’s name be? Will we get to keep our headquarters building? Will our founder still be able to come in and eat lunch with everyone????

As I drove to work, I realized that change in an acquisition is inevitable, but the amount of change in this situation couldn’t be determined until more information is released. Again, I decided that asking these questions was completely futile at this point in the game.

Midmorning I went downstairs to watch the companywide call aired on TVs throughout the campus. The message from our leaders was clear: this is a great opportunity for both companies and we are to carry on like business as usual. We were acquired not by a competitor but by a company looking to expand their footprint in our market. By joining forces, we can now better serve our clients and become a global leader in our market. Positive Note: the potential for innovation in our industry is huge.

I walked away feeling less doom and gloom and more hopeful. There are going to be growing pains and big changes, but the potential for great things to happen is apparent. We’ll see where this goes and where I fit in with it…

Acquisition? Let's Shake on That

I want to hear from anyone else who has been part of an acquired company. Did you have a positive or negative experience? Did you go through similar emotions? Did you ask yourself similar questions to me? Did your leaders assure you things were going to be alright and did they deliver on their words?

Bullying Doesn’t End in Grammar School

Trina — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:05:35 +0000

We have all known a bully, been a bully or been bullied at one point in our lives. Learning to deal with bullies is an unpleasant but essential part of growing up. As we enter the real world, we are hopeful this sort of traumatic treatment is over. Unfortunately, bullies are as alive in corporate America as they are on the grammar school playground, only now they come in the form of leaders and managers.

In the past, I had a bully manager and really grappled with it. I was the only woman his team, and his behavior of talking about how attractive other women were, constantly one-upping everyone (you know, the guy who always has to have the best story), frequently reminding me of “my place” and breeding a boy’s club culture caused me to isolate myself in my cubicle. After a small depression, I left that situation but was still baffled on how to deal with that type of treatment at work.

Recently, I had a discussion with my friend – we’ll call her Samantha – about a crappy experience she’d had with a leader of our division who has a reputation for being abrasive – we’ll call her Karen. Samantha was to assist Karen with a client presentation by gathering supplies off Karen’s list. Sam worked with the division secretary to ensure everything was ready and followed Karen’s list to a T. The day of the client presentation Samantha lugged a suitcase full of supplies in for Karen. Instead of doing something productive, Karen berated Samantha for not doing anything right. It was for really trivial things, like you didn’t print my PowerPoint slides with the notes on the bottom, the name tents don’t say our company’s name on them, you didn’t print the most recent version of the documents (Sam printed the doc she was given), etc. Karen gave Samantha further verbal abuse while they were editing the presentation together. I couldn’t help but think, “Wow, Karen is one hell of a bully!”

After Sam told me her story, I began to think of her situation and back to my times with a bully boss. I started to ask myself a lot of questions. I know for a fact that Karen is terrible with technology and incapable of doing anything for herself; was Karen just hiding her incompetence with mean words? What is the point of treating Samantha like dog poo when she clearly trying to help? Could Samantha have stood up to Karen? Why would anyone in a leadership position treat their people this way? I googled around and found a few things out.

Earlier this year, Forbes wrote an article about powerful corporate bullies and their “bully everyone until their vision is met” strategy for success. If you weren’t contributing to their vision, you were treated in typical bully fashion. As their vision is realized, their egos become inflated giving them a serious god complex which can get them into trouble with the law. Some of the most notorious, successful bullies include Vogue’s Anna Wintour, Martha Stewart and Apple’s Steve Jobs. Forbes said, “Usually their office antics breed resentment, sabotage, “mental health days” and costly turnover”—to this I’d like to add: a “fiction” book about what a bitch you are at work, aka The Devil Wears Prada.

Bully Leadership

The bullies mentioned by Forbes were hell-bent on leading their companies according to their vision. Most of the corporate bullies I’ve encountered do not fall into this category; they seem to be spending the majority of the time covering their butts and attempting to make others look incompetent. Bullyonline.org defines workplace bullying as:

“Bullying is a compulsive need to displace aggression and is achieved by the expression of inadequacy (social, personal, interpersonal, behavioural, professional) by projection of that inadequacy onto others through control and subjugation (criticism, exclusion, isolation etc). Bullying is sustained by abdication of responsibility (denial, counter-accusation, pretence of victimhood) and perpetuated by a climate of fear, ignorance, indifference, silence, denial, disbelief, deception, evasion of accountability, tolerance and reward (eg promotion) for the bully.”

When workplace bullying goes unnoticed (usually the case) it can be very damaging to the recipient. Workplacebullying.org has a 3-step method for dealing with corporate bullies:

Name it and legitimize it – Admit the problem and do not blame yourself, ever.
Take care of your physical and mental health to bullyproof yourself – The stress resulting from being bullied is both mentally and physically draining.
1. Don’t be afraid to seek help from a professional—trust me (from personal experience).
2. If you don’t bullyproof yourself, you may crack and snap back at your bully. Doing this only gives them ammunition against you—trust me.
3. If it has gotten so bad that you need time off, take it and begin searching for a new job. Realize this isn’t a sustainable future; something has to give—trust me.
Expose the bully – If it has gotten so bad that you are ready to leave your job, it’s time to do some serious talking with your leadership. Keep it professional and about the business.
1. If they side with the bully, then leave. You’ve done nothing wrong, and you deserve to work in a place that values you and doesn’t harm your health. Chin up, learn some lessons and kick ass at your next gig.
2. If your leadership is looking to get rid of the bully, then stay strong because it will be over soon. You may have ramifications to deal with initially, but the source of your stress will be gone. Bonus: you’ve got leadership that are keyed in and good at their jobs.

Note: When I left the bully boss, I didn’t sit down with my leadership and explain my reasons for leaving. I just left because his boss had him on a pedestal—I felt it wasn’t worth a battle.

People may tell you it’s only work and to let it roll of your shoulders, but I can speak from personal experience, it is not quite that simple. Be strong and remember this is about the other side’s problems. You can end it, but it’s up to you to be the bigger person.

I’m happy to say that “Samantha” is no longer working under “Karen”; however, Karen is still highly respected in our division…

Opportunity Knocked and I Opened the Door

Trina — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 21:24:34 +0000

There’s always a tough decision ahead when opportunity comes knocking: is this really the right thing for me to do at this time?? I’ve designed my twenties to be convenient for seizing opportunities, and it’s hard to know what the best move is when you’re completely open. That being the case, it’s best to look at opportunities from a realistic standpoint without letting fear of the details scare you away.

Last December, I had lunch with my company’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO). I was thrilled to meet the new CMO who would be the healthcare thought leader for the healthcare-oriented IT company that pays my salary. At the time, he offered me a position working for him which my boss, who had just procured me as a young consultant, vetoed. I agreed with her as I wanted to build my consulting craft. The opportunity passed by with little sadness, because I knew it wasn’t the right time for it.

A few weeks ago, my boss texted me that the CMO was interested in me working for him again, and she told me to hear him out regarding the opportunity. At first, I didn’t know what to think. I’d been in consulting for nearly a year and had made immense progress career-wise. I was fine with my current role and was committed to finishing out the project I was involved with.

I heard him out and cautiously considered my options. My mind was whirling for weeks with detail-oriented questions:

Will I ever travel?
Will I be stuck in a cube again?
What will I do every day?
Will I be miserable?
Will I just be a glorified assistant??

That’s when I took a step back and stopped the negativity madness. I thought of it more in these terms:

I’ll be gaining amazing exposure to the highest leaders in my company
I’ll be working for a powerful physician who has been doing great things for our company
I find my potential new boss funny and relaxed (a critical lesson learned from other bosses)
Due to his relaxed nature, this job is what I make of it – totally up to ME
I’m not IN LOVE with my current role—a lot of my tasks are “glorified assistant”-esque anyways
I’ll be involved with projects around marketing, speaking engagements, his book deal and goodness knows what else
My life-situation flexibility was something I was so proud of…why not actually use it??
This is not permanent!

My final, deal-making thought was that I didn’t want this opportunity to slip by…again. This time it was on my terms and my boss was supportive—how often does that happen? Sure, it might suck some days and it might be a disaster; however, I wanted this to give this a real chance and explore a different world working with him.

I finally felt ready to decide and pulled the trigger: I quit freaking out about the details and said yes!

My advice to anyone in a similar position is to be realistic but give the opportunity a fair chance. Consider the positives and negatives while listening to your gut. You have to do what is right for you and live without regrets. Most importantly, don’t forget how blessed you are to be tossing this around in your head!

Walking Through an Open Door of Opportunity

Big Kids Do Cry and Sometimes It’s At Work

Trina — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:51:48 +0000

This post is one I wrote for Leading Associates in April 2009. I’m proud of the posts I wrote for LA, and I wanted to include them here at Trina Left Iowa.

I’m an emotional person, and I have accepted that. Perhaps I got it from my grandmother, who announces, “Here come the waterworks,” when she reads a mushy greeting card. Unfortunately, I’m not that adorable when I’m in emotional land. Whatever the cause of it, I can’t help but bring emotions into work sometimes, and I’m not alone on this. When I asked a few of my male friends if they have ever cried at work, I got an immediate NO for a response. Maybe some men are extremely good at not crying during work, but I think strong emotions do affect PEOPLE (men included) on a daily basis. Different people and the different genders just deal with emotions differently. The important part is that each of us handles these situations gracefully as coworkers do judge you upon observing your reactions to intense emotions.

Any number of things can cause an onslaught of powerful emotions during the daily grind. You should know your triggers, and be able to recognize those situations. The best way to handle a wave of emotion is to understand what caused it. From that point, you either have to deal with the emotions from those situations or try to approach those situations differently so as not to induce those feelings. Fact: I cry a lot and find it hard to bottle it up during work. I know my tear-triggers list usually contains the following: the boss gave me a hard time, I’m feeling very overwhelmed, anger/frustration with someone or something, people asking me about my personal life problems, etc. For example, when a coworker asks about my weekend, I avoid mentioning anything related to loneliness or my pathetic love life because further probing would surely result in me welling up with tears.

If you need an emotional release, give yourself a moment to do it but be discreet. My time in Rhode Island was a very unhappy time for me, and there were times when I couldn’t help getting emotional at work. Some days I couldn’t make it to the car or apartment, and I became an expert on silently crying in my cubicle (my cube was on a different floor than the rest of my teams’) and the fourth floor women’s room. You don’t want to be sobbing at your desk, but silently letting out a few tears can be a much needed release. If you are in a meeting and feel tears coming, calmly excuse yourself to the restroom. One of my other Rhode Island solutions was to go for a quick walk around the building. It’s amazing what a little sunshine and fresh air can do for a person’s emotional state.

The key when you do give in to your emotions is to compose yourself and pick up with your work. Make sure to give yourself a minute to regroup. Before contacting anyone or sending any emails, I suggest getting some water or visiting the toilets (chance to check your makeup too). You do not want your emotions to be reflected in your voice or in the tone of your work. Sometimes I leave emails unsent until I return from the bathroom. About 75% of the time, I do not send those emails because the amount of emotion in them is inappropriate. It’s amazing what a five minute break can do for a person.

Do not allow yourself to wallow in your emotions for too long, because that will lead to a productivity downward spiral. I used to burst into tears when I would start to feel extremely overwhelmed. Now, I try to remind myself that crying will waste too much of my precious time. Instead, I recognize the feelings of panic, take deep breaths to fight the tears and prioritize my to-do list (a much more effective use of time).

If you consistently find yourself crying or filling with Hulk-like rage during the day, it might be wise to look into your company’s employee assistance program and get some help. My company was able to give me six free visits to a therapist which helped me get through my last few months in Rhode Island. The hard part is knowing when you need to talk with someone, and that decision has to be made entirely on your own.

I’m very proud of myself for writing up this article about workplace emotions without making any “there’s no crying in baseball” jokes from A League of Their Own…I’ll let this video from CBS News do it for me.

I’d love to hear how others handle their emotions at work. Feel free to comment, and share your insight.

Stereotypes and Generalizations

Trina — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:38:50 +0000

This post is one I wrote for Leading Associates in February 2009. I’m proud of the posts I wrote for LA, and I wanted to include them here at Trina Left Iowa.

During our training session, we were told to understand and memorize (for testing purposes) the difference between stereotypes and generalizations. A long debate ensued about the difference between the two words, and we got so busy debating the semantics that we almost missed the purpose of the discussion. The reason for having this discussion was to make us better aware of diversity and the problems that stereotypes/generalizations pose in today’s work place. For this entry, I would like to refer to them as the same thing and discuss stereotypes/generalizations about young millennials.

While on a family vacation I was quite surprised to find that everyone in my family had a strong opinion about hiring young people, except my niece who mainly says “cookie” and “dog”. All of my family members (parents in their sixties; brother and sister-in-law in their thirties) are in management positions, and together they threw out almost every stereotype about young millennials. I have highlighted a few of the main ones:

No Patience
1. Spoiled kids with no patience.
Dress Inappropriately
1. Management has to sit down and review the dress code with them, because they wear scandalous clothes or pajamas to work.
Don’t have a concept of the “real world”
1. Too bad if you parents coddled you…that is not the real world.
2. Don’t want to work, and sometimes show up late or not at all.
Demanding
1. Have too many demands/needs/wants when starting a job.

It is hard for me to swallow this from my family. Every day I go and sit in my cube for hours on end with minimal instructions. Nothing makes me want to go crazier than sitting in a tiny space with only a computer and a phone. However, my fellow training graduates and I have had the patience to sit there for four months while our company figures out what to do with us and we create work for ourselves. Not to mention the fact that we got shipped across the country far from our family and friends on a salary that barely makes rent (let’s not even mention student loans…). It is hard and frustrating, but I haven’t given up and I do not intend to anytime soon. If that isn’t patience or the real world, I do not know what is.

Every day I go to work at the headquarters for one of the nation’s largest companies, and I see middle aged women wearing skirts that show more thigh than I would ever dare. I see other twenty and thirty something women wearing shirts that leave nothing to the imagination. Is it really millennials or is it just daring/scandalous/tacky women?

As I analyzed these stereotypes, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe myself and my friends were just unique millennials that don’t live up to these stereotypes? Is it just that millennials stand out more at the work place because we are young? Isn’t every generation a little guilty of these things? Have our managers forgotten what is like starting a new job? Is this an experience issue? Is this just like any stereotype? Do we need to break stereotypes and change managers’ opinions? For now, I will continue to go to work every day in my conservative clothing in a place far, far from home and have patience that it will all work out in this big bad “real world”. For my friends and me, it is just another day breaking down stereotypes/generalizations… Oh and by the way, I still don’t see the difference between the two words.

ster·e·o·type

4.	Sociology. a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group: The cowboy and Indian are American stereotypes.

“stereotype.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 05 Apr. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stereotype>.

gen·er·al·i·za·tion

Logic.

a.	a proposition asserting something to be true either of all members of a certain class or of an indefinite part of that class.

“generalization.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 05 Apr. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/generalization>.

Failure…what’s that?

Trina — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:31:03 +0000

This post is one I wrote for Leading Associates in March 2009. I’m proud of the posts I wrote for LA, and I wanted to include them here at Trina Left Iowa.

During our development program, we had a C-level executive come to discuss leadership with our class. He made it clear that when it comes to success, the failures we endure are just as important as the wins, and failing is essential to being a great leader. He told us that if we hadn’t experienced a big failure in our lives, one would be coming soon. He was right on.

A fear of failure spans every generation. Not too surprisingly, many have said that millennials do not know what do with failure. For many of us this is completely true, because we haven’t had much experience with it. Most of our parents saw to it that we were on teams whose mottos were “everybody wins” which is precisely why I have a box full of “participant” ribbons (I just wanted to be on the team…). We have seen mainly positive or neutral feedback thus far. It is when we get out in the corporate arena that the potential for failure begins to mount.

William wrote an article about playing the blame game, and I share his thoughts on the subject. People in corporate settings are terrified about taking responsibility for anything, especially for something that has failed. I have found that people respect you immensely more if you are honest and direct about what you’ve done. We all need to take responsibility and grow from our failures. If you are in a situation where people are not willing to deal with failure of any kind, perhaps it isn’t the best environment for you to develop. I’m not suggesting that we all go out and fail to learn some life lessons, but don’t fear it as much.

Other millennials are of the “what doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger” mantra and have dealt with failure. Coping with and accepting failure are the hardest parts. 2008 was a roller coaster year for me, and I went through 2 disastrous roles in my company before finally landing one that was a great fit. Both times I had my hopes up and was ready to give my all to succeed. The first job was a rapid and utter failure due to the account collapsing. The second role was a slow failure that caused me a lot of sleepless nights, self doubt and stress. I put everything into trying to make that job and city work for me, but eventually I had to deal with the fact that I was not going to make it work.

To get through those tough times when you are struggling with impending failure, you need to have faith in yourself. Being sure of who you are comes in handy when it feels like the world is bringing you down. Also, have patience that things will turn around and treat it all as a giant “life experience”. You will learn about your weaknesses (essential to self awareness) and strengths, and you will most certainly build character. When it becomes too much, don’t be afraid to see a therapist (check with your wellness dept–our company has a way to get free visits). Talking with a neutral party can be exactly what you need sometimes. If all that fails, red wine and an amazing playlist (I Will Survive, Stronger by B.Spears or Kanye, etc) will temporarily induce happiness.

One of my greatest assets during the rough times was my mentor. He has had his share of ups and downs, and he gave me great advice. Marty Zwilling has a blog for entrepreneurs and wrote an article on millennial entrepreneurs. He says, “…they will fail a few times before they see some success, as did other generations before them…For now, millennials better find a boomer as a partner and a mentor, if they want to lead the startup pack, or even survive.” This is wonderful advice. Success will come, but for most of us it will be after a few failed attempts. A mentor that has the experience to guide us through those highs and lows is what we will need to get back on the horse and try again.

Although 2008 was a dark year for me, I wouldn’t undo it. Failing added to my character and raised my confidence. Yes, failure actually increased my confidence. The experiences (albeit painful) were life-changing, and I feel like stronger now. Please feel free to comment with additional advice on dealing with failure.