I heard from a colleague in Australia last week that the following day would be his last with the company we both work at. I've known this guy, Cliff, for about 5 years, and was really sad to hear that he was leaving. To me, he was great to work with, always responsive, not afraid to give an honest response, and we shared a somewhat cynical sense of humour. This guy was often on-line when I was, which means the middle of the night for him, and we often saw emails from him all weekend. He's been instrumental in growing our business in his region of the world, and I was sure he was moving on to bigger and better things.
I was even more sad to hear this morning that he passed away over the weekend of a heart attack. Apparently he had been 'downsized' after all. He told another colleague that it wasn't a good time to be out of work, but he needed a break anyway - he had only taken 4 days off in the past 4 years!
This news comes at an interesting time for me. I've been doing some soul searching around my own career plan, and what it is I really want. My boss asked me to consider 3 key questions 1) What do I want, 2) Why do I want it and 3) What am I willing to sacrifice to get it? Cliff's story certainly puts things in perspective, doesn't it?
Rest in Peace, Cliff
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That is so sad. What a commentary on the world we've created and live in. At what point did the competitiveness of the free market economy pass the point of logic and reach the point we're at now, where everything is a competition and so many people go through life in fear - of losing their job, of losing their health insurance, of not being able to send their kids to college, of not having as much as others, etc. I've been doing similar soul searching for the last year. Not sure where I'll land but I'm not sure I want to be a corporate drone forever either.
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