Unexpectedly Out of a Job? Here’s How to Bounce Back

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing, Business, Business/management, Management, Business/marketing, Business/entrepreneurship, Innovation, Hbr, Strategy, Economics, Finance, Teams, Harvard

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a period of increasing political and economic uncertainty, government funding cuts, and AI that can outperform humans, many people are rightly worried about how those forces might disrupt their careers. Layoffs loom, and even those in senior leadership might soon experience - or have already endured - a setback they weren't expecting. Whitney Johnson, the CEO of Disruption Advisors, has advice on how to deal with the emotions surrounding those kinds of shocks, tactical steps you can take to get back in the game, and ways to learn from the experience so you're better positioned for the future.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we begin, we have a couple of questions.
0:04.2	What do you love about HBR IdeaCast?
0:07.0	What would make IdeaCast even better?
0:09.4	What do you want less of?
0:11.7	Tell us, head over to HBR.org slash podcast survey to share your thoughts.
0:17.6	We want to make the show even better, but we need your help to do that. So head to
0:22.2	HBR.org slash podcast survey. Thank you.
0:27.2	I'm Alison Beard.
0:38.9	And I'm Adi Ignatius, and this is the HBR Ideast.
0:48.8	So, Adi, you and I have something in common about our working lives that I think makes us pretty lucky.
0:55.1	All right. That sounds exciting, maybe. What is that? Okay. So we both have worked for only
1:00.8	three organizations over the course of our careers. And I've been at HBO for 15 years now,
1:07.3	which I think is similar to you, right? Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of old school.
1:11.4	I've had three jobs.
1:12.7	I was at each for 12 years or more.
1:14.5	I've been at HBR for 16 and counting.
1:16.5	Yeah, you know, I think the average tenure for U.S. workers as of January 2024 is something like just under four years.
1:24.6	So people are moving around a lot, and a lot of times, it's not because
1:28.1	they want to. You know, it's because their jobs have been outsourced. It's because their company is
1:33.3	downsizing. It's because their industry is transforming. And that's a really tough position to be in.
1:39.7	Yeah, look, and this is the type of problem I think we can help with. I mean, you know, you think about your options.
1:45.1	Do you fight to keep your job?
	...

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