What Being Laid Off Taught Me About Leadership (And Why Being on Both Sides Matters)

I have been laid off.

I have also sat in rooms where that decision was made.

Those experiences do not cancel each other out. They inform each other.

Being on both sides of a layoff reshapes how you understand leadership, responsibility, and the cost of decisions that are often framed as purely strategic.

When the Decision Is Made About You

Being laid off is disorienting in a way that is hard to explain until you experience it.

Your work does not suddenly disappear, but your place does. Conversations stop. Access vanishes. The narrative moves forward without you.

Even when you understand the business reasons, the impact is personal. Identity, routine, and momentum fracture at once.

You are left holding questions that were never meant for you to answer.

When You Are Part of the Decision

Later, I found myself on the other side.

Budget reviews. Forecasts. Hard conversations framed around sustainability and risk. No villains. No easy answers.

Layoffs at that level are not about individual performance. They are about survival, timing, and numbers that refuse to cooperate.

Knowing this does not make the decision easier. It makes it heavier.

The Difference Between Strategy and Impact

Leadership often talks about layoffs in abstract terms. Headcount. Restructuring. Alignment.

The reality is more immediate.

Every decision affects a person with a life, a mortgage, a family, and an identity tied to their work. That impact does not disappear just because the decision makes sense on paper.

Being on both sides collapses the distance between strategy and consequence.

What Responsibility Actually Means

Responsibility is not just making the decision. It is how you carry it.

Clear communication. Respect. Dignity. Transparency where possible. Silence where it is not.

How leaders handle layoffs is remembered long after the charts are forgotten.

People watch closely. Not because they are cynical, but because they are human.

What This Changed in Me

Being laid off taught me empathy. Being on the other side taught me restraint.

Together, they taught me how to lead without detachment.

I am more thoughtful about promises. More honest about uncertainty. More careful about how decisions are framed and delivered.

Leadership is not about insulation from difficulty. It is about proximity to it.

Why This Experience Matters

Leaders who have only known stability often struggle when instability arrives. Leaders who have only made decisions sometimes underestimate their weight.

Having lived both realities changes how you show up.

It does not make leadership easier. It makes it more responsible.

And that responsibility should never be taken lightly.