We Will Find Our Way: 2023 Layoffs & Inflation

It’s feeling a little raw right now. Maybe it’s the winter weather or the recent full moon (Feb. 5), but I think there’s more to it.

There’s uncertainty in the air as layoffs are announced while the job market remains strong. Inflation persists and pundits speak of doom and gloom (because worry and fear get better ratings than good news) yet record profits are announced. Which way is up?

The news each night is a melange of murders past and present. Mass shootings, killers on trial, deaths unsolved, and “Oh, here’s a video of a toddler on a porch playing with a loaded gun.” 

Personally, the death of Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop in Memphis has been weighing on me, too. We’ve all felt the spike of fear when authority figures pull us aside, be it police, principal, or parent. These scenes of it all going so horribly wrong for Tyre are disturbing and hard to watch. Yet we need to bear witness if we hope to help bring about change. 

I believe empathy plays a big role in this. Empathy between the community, the police, and government overseers in order to better communicate and collaborate. Also, empathy in better understanding who is being hired, how they are training for response, and preventing escalation. The solution is complex and will require people from all sides to come together to solve problems. Progress can come with a foundation of empathy in every step forward.

I am finding bright spots. I recently gave an empathy training to the specialists and client relations team at Hindman Auctions. They deal with clients who are often in the midst of what they call the 4Ds: death, divorce, downsizing, or debt. All of these situations require empathy to help clients through their journeys and make the decision to part with their belongings, many of which have great nostalgic or sentimental value in addition to monetary worth.

After the training, they invited me to join them at dinner and it was heartening to hear their personal stories and how empathy had helped them in various situations. The training gave them a better understanding of themselves and their gifts to connect with others while on the job.

Many things appear in conflict as we continue to find our equilibrium in this new year. It may stay raw for a while, but I know we will make it through to the other side. Empathy with ourselves and those around us can be our guide.  

We have to remember to find the courage to be empathetic. Every day.

PLUS: Another bright spot. The one-year anniversary of Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a Time is almost here. I’ve got a special virtual event planned for February 22 at 7 pm ET. Please save the date and I’ll follow up with more details next week.

The Best Piece of Advice I Ever Received (Part 1)

For those facing rounds of layoffs in tech and beyond this year, know that you are not alone. In fact, I’ve been there too. 

I was laid off twice between 1999 and 2006. 

In the broad span of my career, they happened relatively close together. In hindsight, I believe it was the universe trying to redirect me to the path I was meant to take.

Great retrospective rationalizing, I know. 

To be honest, in the months after I was let go, I wrestled with blaming myself for having done something wrong that led to my being let go. 

Yet I could never get it to fully make sense as I thought of successes in the role or positive feedback I’d received.

And really, in the wake of such a sudden upheaval, I just felt vulnerable. 

“How will I pay my bills?”

“How do I explain to others what happened?”

“Without a job, how do I introduce myself?”

“How can I financially survive this?”

Amid the news of mass tech layoffs, I’d like to share a piece of advice that saw me through these challenging periods. It proved to be really valuable to my mental health back then.

While you may not know how long it’ll take, you *will* find another job and be back on the daily grind.  

So, take this as an opportunity and do all of the things you wished you could do during a normal work week. 

After my second layoff in 2006, I made a habit of visiting a pool in Burlingame each afternoon for a swim in the sunshine. 

One fall day, while doing the backstroke and staring up at the California sun, an epiphany struck in response to a conversation days earlier with a research CEO looking to hire: “After all, I like to talk to people and have been told I’m a good listener. Maybe I should become a moderator?” 

From there, my market research career began, followed by the founding of Ignite 360 in 2011. 

For those of you who might be facing this round of layoffs, this advice helped me to discover my next chapter: 

Go easy on yourself, practice self-care, and try to find balance. 

In time, you will find your way. 

P.S. Included here is a photo of a visit to Burlingame—where it all began!

Food for Thought

While many in higher income brackets aren’t feeling the effects of inflation, the latest round of layoffs has brought out fears of recession. Many clients are now asking how people are dealing with inflation and recessionary pressure—and what to do about it to protect their businesses.

A colleague and I started reviewing the latest round of interviews from Ignite 360's Navigating to a New Normal (N2NN) series to see what’s rising to the surface.

As I started taking notes from the interviews, I noticed themes emerging. Too many, in fact, so I used Post-it notes to start to organize and put together a video reel.

A handful of themes emerged:

• Cutting back/finding substitutes

• Better planning

• Paying what I have to

• Delaying gratification

• Rethinking what “value” means

What are you seeing in your own life and the people around you?

Feel free to reply to this email to let me know your perspective.

Reboot Your Intuition for the Win

Call it what you like: a gut feeling, killer instinct, sixth sense, or intuition.

This deeper sensibility is critical for our best decision-making, collaborating with colleagues, and communicating with clients or consumers if that’s your gig.

A strong intuition is essential to success for anyone in a leadership role, and we need our intuition to be strong and precise.

And what nourishes a healthy intuition?  

→ The ability to see the perspectives of others.

Before you hit "send" or "approve" on any communication or new campaign launch, consider its meaning from the recipient’s perspective. Not just how the message will be received but also from the perspective they will use to ingest the communication. 

I draw parallels to when Ignite 360 conducts marketing research for any given brand: In that work, we are *not* the consumer—and, often, they’re nothing like us. It’s a big mistake people often make, thinking the consumer (the other person) is just like them.  

When we take the time to get to know others (the consumers), where they’re coming from, and their unique perspectives and needs, we strengthen our own gut instincts in return.  That allows for better communication or development of product or services. We are leveraging our understanding/empathy/intuition with the needs of others.

Building a strong foundation of cognitive empathy – seeing the point of view of others by asking “good questions” in order to gain the context behind a person’s thinking or behavior – will infuse our intuition with the right perspective to keep the other person front and center.

What #1 tip might you share on using gut instincts to understand others’ perspectives? What’s best informed your practice?

Empathy Isn’t the End State

It’s the thing that fuels the skills we need so that we can communicate, collaborate, persuade, forgive, trust, and so much more.  

With all of the things that we are or want to become, empathy enables those skills to become even better. 

Thank you, Paula Felps, for inviting me to join you for an empathy–filled Episode 400 of Live Happy Now Podcast!

Reading Between the Lines is a newsletter designed to deliver of-the-moment insights into human behavior and empathy, drawn from the world of marketing research; practical and tactical tips on using the skill of empathy in everyday life; and exclusive updates to keep my community close on a biweekly basis.

I hope you enjoyed this issue. If you know of others that would be interested, I’d appreciate you forwarding this email to them—or inviting them to sign up at the button below. Thank you!

– Rob