Season of Layoff
Being laid off can feel like the floor dropped beneath you — fear, uncertainty, and self-doubt rush in all at once. But this season isn’t empty; it’s a quiet space for building leadership roots.
✨ Mastery over performance: When you’re not performing for others, you build inner authority: emotional regulation, patience, humility, and grit. Those are the strengths effective leaders rely on when stakes are high.
💡Example: learning to sit with uncertainty instead of the pressure to act gives you steadiness in crisis.
✨ Strategic perspective: Waiting forces you to observe patterns, notice who actually delivers, and see the long arc. That perspective shifts you from tactical to strategic.
💡Example: noticing recurring blockers reveals where to improve a system or framework, not just your actions.
✨ Relational calibration: In low-visibility times, relationships reveal themselves. You learn who shows up, who communicates, and how they communicate. You learn who values you in all seasons — gold for building trusted advisor networks.
💡Example: a mentor who checks in is an ally you may not have realized you had.
✨ Skill incubation: Downtime is where you can experiment, fail small, and practice new capabilities without performance pressure. Leadership grows with practice.
💡Example: volunteer, learn new skills, tap into hobbies to unlock opportunity and connections.
✨ Clarified purpose and boundaries: Downtime invites you to ask what matters and what you’ll refuse to trade. Leaders with clear boundaries and purpose attract better trade-offs.
💡Example: If you must say yes to what feels like a no, do it with intention: look for ways to grow, protect your long-term trajectory, and reclaim agency in the choices you can make.
You might be in a season of layoff, but you’re not stuck. Use this time to grow skills, expand your network, and reclaim your career trajectory. The best part? Your growth doesn’t need anyone’s approval.
My focus in this season? Supporting other job seekers while refining the job search process. No more endless resumes and applications, or pointless interviews — instead, connect authentically, be clear and direct with intentions, build visibility, and generate small wins that compound over time.
