The positive sides of termination

The famous British author W. Somerset Maugham liked to tell the story of a young priest at St. Peter's Church in London who, after discovering that the church caretaker was illiterate, fired him.

Unemployed, the man invested his meager savings in a small tobacconist's shop, which immediately made him a fortune. He then bought another shop, then another, and another, until he eventually owned a large chain of tobacconists across Britain.

One day he was dining in a fancy private club with his banker, who said to him, “For an illiterate man, you have done quite well. I wonder where you would be today if you could read and write.”

“That's easy,” the man replied, “I would still be the caretaker of St. Peter's Church in Neville Square.”

The world is full of stories about people who were fired and still got back on their feet. Mozart was fired as a musician at the court of the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg. Oprah Winfrey lost her job as a news reporter at a Baltimore television station when her producer said she was not suitable for the job. Walt Disney was fired as a cartoonist from the Kansas City Star newspaper because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

I interviewed and featured 29 famous Americans in my book, We Were Fired! … And It's the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us. Since my book, I've met many other very successful people who were fired and got back on their feet.

For example, Anna Wintour, best known as editor-in-chief of Vogue, was fired from her junior position as editor at Harper's Bazaar. Today she tells her students that she thinks anyone who really wants to advance should be fired.

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban, who starred on “Shark Tank,” was sharing an apartment with five buddies in the early 1980s and working as a salesman at a computer store when he was fired. From that point on, he knew he never wanted to work for anyone else again, so he started his own company, MicroSolutions, which he sold to CompuServe for $6 million. The rest is history.

Sallie Krawcheck is one of the most powerful women on Wall Street and founder of Ellevate Network (formerly 85 Broads) after she was fired as head of Merrill Lynch's global wealth management division in 2011. The layoff helped her realize she needed to spend more time with her children. She said, “And on a professional level, it taught me to look at business opportunities through the lens of the broader positive impact they can have, given the trade-offs we have to make when pursuing them.”

Quitting can often be a blessing, even if it doesn't seem like it. Here are some reasons why quitting can be beneficial:

It's an opportunity for self-reflection. Losing your job forces you to step back and evaluate your career path, skills, and goals. This self-reflection can lead to valuable insights about what you really want and where your strengths lie.

It can be a nudge to pursue passions. Many people, like JK Rowling and Ray Kroc, discovered their true passions and achieved remarkable success after being fired. Losing a job can be the catalyst that gets you pursuing what you really love.

It can lead to learning and growth. Being fired can teach resilience and adaptability. It often requires you to develop new skills and perspectives that can be invaluable to your future endeavors.

It opens up new opportunities. Sometimes being laid off can open doors to new and better opportunities that you might not have otherwise considered. Michael Bloomberg, for example, built a financial information empire after being laid off from Salomon Brothers.

It can reinforce values. Dr. Bernadine Healy, former president of the American Red Cross, believed that being laid off can challenge you to examine your fortitude and commitment to your values.

It builds resilience. The experience of being fired and getting back on your feet can teach you how to handle rejection, manage uncertainty, and keep going despite setbacks.

It can expand your network and connections. Often, finding a new job after being laid off can lead to expanding your professional network. New connections can bring new opportunities and insights you wouldn't have encountered otherwise.

It promotes personal growth. The emotional and psychological journey of recovering from a layoff can lead to significant personal growth. It can help you develop stronger self-esteem and confidence in your ability to overcome challenges.

Mackay’s moral: Sometimes the best way to move forward is to be pushed out of your comfort zone.

• • •

Harvey Mackay is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Swimming with Sharks Without Getting Eaten Alive. Contact him at his website at www.harveymackay.com, by email at [email protected], or by mail at MackayMitchell Envelope Co., 2100 Elm St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.