Trauma, Recovery, and Rebuilding

A year ago, I was “Head of Email Solutions” at the company formerly known as SparkPost. At least, I thought I was.

Exactly one year ago, I rolled out of bed around 6:30 AM, and did my cursory check for critical messages that might have happened overnight on my phone. I know a dozen people will tell me that is unhealthy, but that is the price when you manage a global team of top performers. The message I read shocked me awake very quickly.

“Hey, you probably already know, but I’ve been let go. It has been great working with you”.

I immediately texted back with a “WHAT? Wait – let me go find out what is happening”.

But I found that I was unable to log in to my work computer. Checking my personal email, I found a termination letter that was time-stamped early in the morning while I was sleeping. Talk about shooting an unarmed man in the back.

I was able to sync with others through some personal cell numbers and found that most of my team and several others, about 240 of the best email professionals in the industry, had been terminated by email overnight.

How rude.

The next few days were a blur of helping my former teammates get their lives sorted and then trying to figure out what my own next move was going to be. I know I am inviting ageism, but I have to clarify that I have been employed steadily in some way since 1985 and have not had any experience being unemployed, even for a day. This was life-altering, to say the least.

But that week passed, and then the next, and life moved on. I had time to reset and figure out how to reconfigure my life since this was the first time in decades I had not routinely put in 20-hour days. I settled into a new and better routine that is healthier, gives me more time with family and also lets me rebuild the consulting business I set aside to join the amazing group of people at Message Systems back in 2008.

It took me nearly eight months to really recover from that trauma and actually move forward. I’m not sure companies should be allowed to cause that much pain to hundreds or even thousands of employees all at once without some significant penalty. I know several of my coworkers have found new homes, but many have not and I would vouch for any of them any day. (Call me if you need a reference)

For my part, that recovery journey led me to KumoMTA, which started as an interesting project in February but became a full-time commitment by July, and I have not looked back since. I can only hope my old teammates find their own path to joy in this new world.

Be Awesome; Change the world.